Author's Note - Okay, I have come to the conclusion that I am a very confusing person. I'm one of those people who say things before realising that it makes no sense at all. This other character that I was talking about, is a character I have already written in, she isn't major and I just really needed a name... This character is... Little Tita De La Garza!

Hehe...yeah... I thought someone might've read 'Like Water for Chocolate' and picked up on it and told me I was using another character's name, so I thought I'd beat 'em to the punch! No need to apparently... Ah well! LadyFateContemplatingDisaster now has a new book to read because of my silliness though! XP

And, don't forget to tell me of anything that I've done wrong or written awkwardly or left out!

Chapter thirty.

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Draco worried as he grabbed Hermione's hand and cupped her face with his other. Outside the abandoned classroom and all throughout Hogwarts, Death Eaters were fighting mere school students.

Hermione smiled softly and whispered, "Yes, now go! I don't want him to find you with me…you'll pay the consequences! ...I couldn't have that on my conscience. "

Draco chuckled softly and rubbed his forehead against Hermione's.

"I thought you were the one who was supposed to be avoiding the big, bad Death Eater, little Muggleborn? Have I got my wires crossed?" he whispered sadly, his eyes closed.

Hermione lifted his chin and gave him a soft kiss, "I'd say you did, that big, bad Death Eater you're talking about happens to be my boyfriend!"

Draco chuckled mirthlessly, "Some boyfriend I turned out to be! I'm running back to my half-blood 'Master' who's entrenched in Pureblood beliefs and on the rampant for Muggles and Muggleborns! While my girlfriend…' he stopped and stared into Hermione's eyes as he stroked back a lock of her hair and Hermione leaned into his hand, '…my beautiful, intelligent, brave girlfriend, goes back to fight against the bastard."

Hermione smiled, "Don't be like that, we need you on the inside! I mean, even though you had to let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts to convince him, at least we could evacuate enough students to not arouse suspicion! You have got to be one of the bravest in the Order! You have to face Voldemort everyday, we only have to face him every now and then before retreating to lick our wounds."

Draco smiled and chuckled, stroking her face as her amber orbs stared earnestly into his silver ones, trying to convince him of her sincerity.

"Thanks 'Mione." He looked at her longingly, even now feeling the pressure to leave in case a Death Eater might burst in and discover their secret.

Hermione smiled and started to slip away, but Draco had a sudden panic attack and held her to him briefly, "You know I love you, right?" he whispered worriedly into her hair. Hermione started, they had been going out for two years, but Draco had yet to say that to her. She smiled in delight, "Oh Draco! I- I love you too! But please… don't get hurt." She whispered.

The corner of Draco's mouth lifted sadly, "No promises... You look after yourself, you hear?" They wouldn't see each other again until Voldemort or Harry were dead, that much they were certain of. And even then there was a chance that one of them would die in the mean time. Hermione would be helping Harry find the Horcruxes (Potter would be useless without her, that much Draco was certain of), while Draco stayed and bended to Voldemort's whim on the Order's orders.

Hermione looked up at him and kissed his cheek, "No promises."

How Draco wished he'd gotten that promise.

"Hermione,' he said anxiously, 'If anything goes wrong, go to Sydney, Australia and look up Alice Fletcher. She's my cousin, well, sort of distant relation, but she'll be able to help you, no matter what.' He pulled out his wand, 'I'll put a charm on you so that, no matter what, you'll know of Alice Fletcher and that she'll be able to help you."

Hermione frowned, "Nothing'll go wrong!"

Draco smiled grimly and quickly cast the charm, much to Hermione's annoyance, "Better safe than sorry!"

Hermione whipped out her wand too, "Well then, I'll give you a safe place too!"

Draco kissed the top of her head, "Can't darling, I'm taking too big a risk with you already, Voldemort will know automatically when you place a charm on me and he'll search my mind till he finds your safe place and you. I'll be seeing you." He grinned his charming grin and disappeared out of the classroom door, leaving behind a dismayed Hermione.

Outside, Draco leaned against the door to stop himself from breaking down. Revitalised, Draco stood up quickly and rubbed a hand over his face, taking a deep breath. He shoved Hermione's charm she'd written on a piece of paper deep into his pocket. Only his Hermione would've figured out how to change the Dark Mark, but he could only use it when the Dark Lord was safely six-feet under.

Hermione lay wreathing in pain on his floor. His floor! The floor of the house he had one day hoped to bring her to as a potential bride, not as a torture victim! She was so committed to her cause and her friend that she'd be tortured and not give anything away. Still, that was the Hermione he knew and loved. Even if she no longer loved him. Harry, Ron and himself had become good friends (albeit, secret ones. He had an image to uphold, afterall!) in the time he'd been dating Hermione, simply because if he wanted Hermione, he got them too.

And when he had managed to sneak down to the dungeons to speak to them before his crazy Aunt Bella began to torture his girlfriend, they told him of the accident. In one of the many times they had found themselves ambushed by random people; Snatchers and the like, Hermione had been hit by a very peculiar memory charm that wiped away her most recently precious memories and anything linking them. It had been their bittersweet farewell that had been wiped, and as such, all their good times as boyfriend and girlfriend that they'd had together was gone from her memory too. Draco was in a state of shock and heartache afterwards, but he remembered the most important part of the plan he had concocted with the boys during that time too and that was, to drop his wand and watch them apparate his Hermione away.