Draco spent every day in fear. His father had been arrested, and his family was being punished for it. The Dark Lord had taken up residence in Malfoy Manor. Draco couldn't sleep, but his nightmares were nothing compared to his waking moments. His mother feared for him. He had been assigned a task by the Dark Lord. One that everyone seemed doubtful that he could complete.

Draco was broken from his thoughts by a small sound. He was laying on his bed in Malfoy Manor, longing for the four poster bed that was waiting for him at Hogwarts. At least he would be able to sleep safely once he returned to school. Draco stood and tentatively cracked his bedroom door. He could hear the noise more clearly now. He crept down the hall, and realized that the sound was coming from his mother's bedroom. She was crying. Draco pushed open his mother's door, and saw her sitting, huddled on the floor in front of her lit fireplace. She was usually such a strong woman, it was rare that Draco saw this kind of emotion from her. He crouched down next to her and put his arms around her shoulders.

"Mother?" He said quietly.

"Draco," she sobbed, throwing her arms around him. "My baby..my Draco.." She held him tighter than she ever had before. Draco knew that she was afraid she would never be able to hold him like this again.

"Mother.." Draco started softly, "I'll be fine. You don't need to worry."

"The Dark Lord is punishing us." She whimpered "We will all suffer now for your father's mistakes." She looked up at him and held his face in her hands. "You are brave, my son. I know you'll do well, but I still fear for you."

She gave him a kiss on his forehead, and resumed hugging him, crying softly.

Seeing his mother so upset made Draco's fear increase slightly, but at the same time, it gave him a new motivation. He would prove himself to her, and the Dark Lord. He would make up for his father's mistakes, and bring honor to their family. Draco went to sleep with this new resolution floating repeatedly across his thoughts.

The following day, Draco and his mother rose early, and set off for Diagon Ally, to get his school supplies. As he was getting fitted for new robes in Madam Malkin's, he caught his first sight of Hermione, walking past the window. His heart dropped. It was too dangerous now for Draco to spend time with her. He had spent his whole summer arguing with himself about it. He longed now, more than ever to be close to her. He needed her for support. But he knew that the Dark Lord wouldn't hesitate to kill her in a second if he found out what she meant to him. The Dark Lord had ways of knowing what people were thinking. Draco had even gone so far as to ask his aunt Bellatrix to teach him some Occlumency in the hopes that he would be able to hide Hermione from the Dark Lord completely. A moment later, Draco heard the bell on the front door tinkle as Hermione entered the shop with Potter and Weasley. As an added precaution, Draco had finally convinced himself that in order to keep her safe, to keep her away from him, he would have to spare no thought on her feelings, and treat her the same way he was expected to treat any mudblood.

"If you're wondering what the smell is, Mother, a Mudblood just walked in," Draco drawled as his eyes drifted over the three of them, coming to a rest on Hermione, who was sporting a black eye. Draco couldn't help but feel a jolt of concern for her.

Fighting back that feeling, he sneered "Who blacked your eye, Granger? I want to send them flowers."

Draco exchanged a few more angry words with Potter, before pushing past them and exiting the store, already feeling his hatred for Potter creeping up inside of him.

An hour later, after collecting all of his supplies for school, Draco was sneaking off down the alleyway, hoping his mother wouldn't realize where he had gone. He ducked out of sight down Knockturn alley, and into Borgan and Burke's. Draco had a plan. He just needed to get a little more information.

The last week of holiday passed as slow as ever, with Draco barely getting any sleep. Finally he arrived on Platform 9 ¾ and boarded the train, not even bothering to go to the Prefect's carriage for instructions. He didn't want to see Hermione. Though he did catch a glimpse of her as she passed his compartment with Weasley, he merely shot a filthy hand gesture at Weasley and turned away. The day passed rather uneventfully, until Blaise Zabini returned to the compartment from lunch with the new Professor Slughorn. He had some difficulty closing the compartment door, and caused a bit of a commotion when he toppled over into Goyle's lap. "What a bunch of idiots." Draco thought to himself as he lay back down across two seats with his head in Pansy's lap. Draco craved any comfort he could get these days, and as Pansy brushed her fingers through Draco's hair, he pretended she was Hermione, his mind racing back to a few years prior, when Hermione had comforted him in the same way. Feeling irritated at the fact that he had not been invited to Professor Slughorn's lunch, Draco set to bragging in order to make himself feel better. He subtly hinted to his friends that he may not even be returning to Hogwarts next year, because the Dark Lord had bigger and better plans for him. Though not completely confident, Draco felt his ego inflating as he watched their awed faces. They were impressed by him, and that gave him an extra confidence boost. As he spoke though, Draco suspected that there may be an intruder in the cabin. He allowed the others to exit the train alone before closing the door and drawing the blinds.

"Petrificus Totalus!" He shouted, aiming his wand at the luggage rack.There was a sickening thud, and Potter was revealed, having fallen on the cabin floor, and unable to move.

"I thought so," Draco said, a smile creeping across his face. "I heard Goyle's trunk hit you. And I thought I saw something white flash through the air after Zabini came back..." His eyes lingered for a moment upon Potter's trainers. "That was you blocking the door when Zabini came back in, I suppose?"

Draco hated Potter like no one else. He longed to humiliate Potter the way he had humiliated Draco so many times in the past. And finally, the tables had turned. He stamped hard on Potter's face, causing blood to gush out of his nose, and Draco felt a sick satisfaction.

"That's for my father." He spat angrily, before covering Potter with his own invisibility cloak and leaving him to be carried by the train back to Kings Cross Station.

Hermione sat and listened to Harry recount what he had heard Draco saying on the train. Harry was convinced that Draco had joined the Death Eaters, but Hermione couldn't bring herself to believe that Draco would actually go that far. He was a very angry person, with an unfair home life, but he wasn't bad. She was concerned though. The conversation had sounded awfully suspicious from what Harry had told them.

"I don't know." She said uncertainly. "It would be like Malfoy to make himself seem more important than he is ... but that's a big lie to tell... "

Over the next few weeks, classes progressed as usual. Much to Draco's dismay, Potter had proved to be somewhat of a genius in Potions, now that they were no longer being taught by Professor Snape. Draco began spending a lot of time in the Room of Requirement, working on his plan to allow passage for the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. He wanted this to be over as soon as possible so he could prove his family to the Dark Lord, and perhaps feel safe again, even if just for one night. He received news from his mother that their home had been raided by the Ministry, but fortunately, they did not find anything suspicious. The Dark Lord was very good at covering his tracks. Draco breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of his mother's narrow escape from joining his father in Azkaban.

As the weeks passed and winter came, Draco's desperation was growing. His plan was taking longer than he expected it would, so he devised a new one to send a cursed necklace to the headmaster. His plan however, went horribly wrong, and landed a girl in St. Mungo's. When Draco heard the news, his stomach tightened. He didn't intend for anyone else to get hurt. Worse than that, Hermione had witnessed it. What if it had been her? Draco thought in terror.

Finally, after months of avoiding her, Draco could not be away from her any longer. He caught Hermione's arm as she walked alone from the library, pulling her behind a tapestry.

"Draco!" She said, obviously shocked.

He looked close to tears, and up close Hermione couldn't help but notice that he was looking rather sickly, as if he hadn't slept properly in a very long time. He pulled her into a very tight hug.

"I heard...that necklace.." He stuttered. "the girl...I thought it might be you..."

Hermione grabbed Draco's arms firmly and steered him off of her. "Draco, I'm alright." She said, looking into his face for the first time in months. Her heart skipped a little as their eyes met, and she could see how afraid he really was. "What's going on with you?" She questioned, a note of concern in her voice.

Draco took a step back. "Nothing." He said, still walking backwards away from her. "I just wanted to make sure...that you were alright." He turned, and disappeared out of sight, leaving Hermione more concerned about her friend than ever.

Draco refocused his efforts on repairing the vanishing cabinet in the Room of Requirement. He spent hours there, even skipping Quidditch. After the Quidditch match, Draco having spent hours fruitlessly working, he wandered down the corridor alone, in the direction of the dungeons, where his four poster bed was waiting for him. He rounded the corner and to his disgust saw Weasley and Lavender Brown wrapped in close embrace, sucking each other's faces like some disgusting sea creatures. They took no notice of Draco, and he dodged past them as quickly and quietly as possible. He was too tired to make fun of Weasley tonight. As he walked along, he heard a noise, much like the one he had heard from his mother's bedroom many times over the summer. Someone was crying. He peered around the door frame of an empty classroom to see Hermione sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, her face in her hands. He felt sick to his stomach as his brain linked together the scene in front of him, and the one he had just witnessed. Draco wanted to walk away and pretend he hadn't seen her. He knew that it was dangerous for him to care about her, and he didn't want to comfort her over the actions of that pathetic redhead. But despite his desperate desire to run away, his feet unwillingly ventured towards her, where he knelt beside her. Hermione looked up, and her face was filled with tears.

"He's not worth it, Hermione." Draco said, trying to keep the disgust out of his voice. "Are you really crying over that idiot?"

Hermione wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Did you see them?" She said angrily. "It's disgusting."

"Why do you care?" Draco said in frustration. "You can't really be falling for that pathetic excuse of a human being, are you?"

"Stop it!" Hermione snapped. "I'm not falling for him...I just think...I just think that maybe he should use a little more discretion. I mean, who wants to look at that?"

"Oh, come on Hermione." Draco said with a slight smirk. "If you were just disappointed in his public displays you wouldn't be in tears over it."

Hermione sniffed.

"I've seen the way you two look at each other you know." Draco was doing his best to keep a hurt tone out of his voice. "As much as I don't like to admit it, I know that you've got a thing for him. "

Hermione refused to look at him. She suddenly became very interested with the hem of her robe.

"But he's not worth it you know." Draco stood, knowing that if he stayed here much longer he would not be able to contain his frustration. "He's pathetic, and he's stupid. He's not good enough for you!"

"Oh and you are?" Hermione snapped, also rising to her feet.

"I didn't say that!" Draco responded angrily. He was too tired for this. He turned on his heel and stormed out of the room leaving Hermione even more upset than before.

As Christmas approached, Draco began working harder than ever. He was feeling rather ill and burned out.

"What is your plan ?" Snape said as he held Draco firmly against the wall of an abandoned classroom. Draco had just been caught by Filch coming out of the Room of Requirement, and Professor Snape was escorting him back to the dungeons.

"It's none of your business!" Draco snapped shoving Snape off of him and straightening his robes.

"If you tell me what you are trying to do, I can assist you ..."

Draco laughed. "I have all the assistance I need, thanks"

Snape took a step closer to Draco "Then why not confide in me, and I can-"

"I know what you're up to!" Draco cut him off. "You want to steal my glory!"

Draco stormed away. He didn't need Snape's help. He was not going to allow Snape to take credit for his accomplishments and diminish his family even more.

Draco was happy for the solitude that the Christmas holiday brought. He remained in the castle, and continued to work despite the hopelessness that was crashing over him. He was very ill now. The stress of this task was overwhelming. He desperately tried another attempt at harming the headmaster, this time with poison. To his dismay, shortly after Christmas, it was Weasley who somehow got in the way of the plan and ingested the poison. Draco was emotionally torn when he heard of the accident. Part of him was thankful that Weasley was recovering, due to the way Hermione felt about him. Part of him wished Weasley had died, for the same reason. Draco thought about going to Hermione, to comfort her. He knew that Weasley being unconscious in the hospital wing would be taking it's toll on Hermione, but his despair was weighing too heavily on him now.

Hermione's stress levels were finally rescinding. Ron had been in the hospital wing for quite a while, but he had finally recovered and returned to normal living. As she washed her hands in the second floor girl's bathroom, she heard a little cough. Looking up, she saw Myrtle floating just above one of the cubicles.

"Hello Myrtle." Hermione said pleasantly.

"Oh, it's you, hello." Myrtle replied. "I suppose you haven't seen your boyfriend lately have you?" She smirked a little. "He's been spending so much time with me after all."

"My boyfriend?" Hermione said with a little laugh. "Look, if you mean Ron, he's not-"

"No, not that rude boy." Myrtle interrupted. "The other one..strong, and handsome...from the bathtub." She let out a little cackle.

"What?" Hermione was utterly confused. "You mean Draco?"

"Oh yes." Myrtle floated a little absent mindedly around the ceiling of the room. "But he's much happier spending time with me of course. In the boy's room upstairs. We understand each other you know."

Hermione left the bathroom, applying little thought to what Myrtle had said. It was only a few days later when Hermione was passing the boy's bathroom, and heard Myrtle's voice that her curiosity was peaked. Hermione looked around, and then slowly pushed open the bathroom door. The sight that reached Hermione's eyes made her heart break. Draco was in the corner of the room, his head leaning back against the wall, sobbing. He looked desperate, and hopeless, and seemed to be having trouble pulling himself together.

"Don't worry." Myrtle crooned. "If he does kill you, you can always come here and live with me."

Draco gave a shuttering sob and sank down onto his knees, his face buried in his hands.

"It's not just me he'll kill!" Draco whimpered, and his whole body shook.

Myrtle attempted to comfort him again, though her words only seemed to upset him more. Hermione rushed forward.

"Get away from him!" She said loudly shooing Myrtle away. "Can't you see, you're making it worse!"

"Hermione," Draco gasped as Myrtle stuck out her tongue and whizzed back down one of the toilets.

Hermione rushed to his side, pulling his trembling body close to her, and stroking the back of his hair. She held him for a few moments as he sobbed into her shoulder, his hands holding tightly to the back of her shirt. "Draco, you have to tell me what's going on!" She insisted desperately. "Please, I can help you."

Draco broke free of her grasp and stood, but did not try to hide his tears from her. "No one can help me.!" He yelled. "You just have to leave me alone!"

"No!" Hermione shouted back, as she too got to her feet. "I will not leave you alone, Draco! I care about you, and you've obviously gotten yourself mixed up with something dangerous. I don't want you to get hurt!"

Draco grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall, holding her tight. "Don't you see?" He said in between sobs. "Caring about me is the most dangerous thing you can do! I don't want it to be this way, but it is! I have no choice."

"You always have a choice Draco!" Hermione insisted. "and I will always be here for you."

"No." Draco sobbed. "Please stay away from me, I'm too dangerous."

"What if I don't care?" Hermione snapped

"I care!" Draco's gray eyes met her brown ones. "I love you Hermione!"

"Draco.."

But before Hermione could say anything else, Draco had his hands in her hair, and he was kissing her fiercely. She didn't push him away, but was surprised to find herself returning his kiss. Something about the urgency with which he kissed her had her entranced . He took hold of one of her wrists and held it against the wall above her head, while his other hand wrapped firmly around her waist. His body was pressed up against her's. He was desperate to be close to her. For just a moment, he could make everything disappear. Brushing her hair from her face, he kissed her neck, and he heard a little gasp escape her lips as her head tilted slightly back. Hermione's hand were on his waist. He felt her fingers brush his skin just under the hem of his shirt. His lips returned to her mouth, and without warning, he felt her fingernails dig into his lower back. Draco was thinking of nothing but her. All of his panic, and desperation from the past year was being fueled into this moment alone. At the encouragement of her touch, Draco lifted Hermione into his arms, her back against the wall, and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist. Hermione was no longer thinking. She was consumed by Draco's passion. Her hands were now in his hair, pulling him deeper into the kiss. His hands were running over body with a kind of hunger. Then, just as quickly as it began, Draco had released Hermione, and she dropped back to her own feet. Draco turned, panicked, his eyes filling with defeated tears again.

"I'm sorry." He said hurriedly as he stumbled backwards away from her.

"Draco," Hermione said as she reached for his hand.

Draco pulled his arm out of her reach. "No...just...I'm sorry." He turned away from her, and without another look, pulled open the bathroom door and was gone.

Draco hated himself. How could he have allowed this to happen? He had allowed his feelings for her to take control of him most violently. There was no way he would be able to hide this memory from the Dark Lord.

Over the next few weeks, Draco became more panicked than ever. The moment of weakness he had shared with Hermione weighed heavily on him making his despair worse and worse. Despite his better judgment, Draco found himself revisiting the spot where they had been together. It was there, that he was discovered. Just as the desperation was taking over him again, and his body was shaking with uncontrollable sobs, Harry Potter's face appeared in the mirror. Draco spun around, shooting curses at Potter, fury and embarrassment now joining his other emotions. Curses flashed around them as Potter responded, and a backfired jinx exploded a cistern, causing water to burst out and pour everywhere. Under cover of this distraction, Potter shouted a spell that Draco had never heard of, and he felt his body being slashed apart in excruciating pain. Draco fell to the ground gasping as blood seeped rapidly through his clothing. He splashed into the water as he collapsed backward, trying desperately to cover the wounds that has torn through his chest and face. Potter was at his side, looking shocked at what he had done, but Draco, now laying in a pool of his own blood, could not keep consciousness.

Draco had recovered, with a new determination for his cause. Though he had thought for a brief moment that he would have been perfectly happy if Potter's curse had killed him. Tonight was the night. He had finally successfully repaired the vanishing cabinet, and his family's honor was near. He used the vanishing cabinet to grant the Death Eaters access to the school, and the Draco proceeded to the tallest tower, where the Dark Mark had been set off to lure Professor Dumbledore to it. Draco burst through the door to see Dumbledore with his wand out.

"Expelliarmus!" Draco shouted, and Dumbledore's wand flew from his hand.

"Good Evening Draco." Dumbledore said calmly. Draco couldn't deny that the old wizard frightened him. If the Dark Lord himself feared him, why should Draco think that he was any sort of match for him. But Draco could not think of that now. He had to press on, no matter how much his feet wanted to run.

Dumbledore was smiling kindly at him. Didn't he understand that Draco was here to kill him? Perhaps he was unafraid of death...or simply unafraid of Draco.

"Draco, Draco, you are not a killer." Dumbledore spoke softly to him.

"'How do you know?" Draco said without thinking of how childish that sounded."You don't know what I'm capable of," e continued, "you don't know what I've done!"

To his surprise, Dumbledore recited exactly what Draco had done throughout the year. The failed attempt with the necklace, and the poison. Dumbledore acted as though they were having a polite conversation over tea. Draco knew he had to do what he came here to do, and soon. He could hear a battle raging down below, but he was afraid, so he kept talking. He told Dumbledore all about how he had fixed the cabinet, and brought the Death Eaters to Hogwarts. Dumbledore praised his work, and for some reason his words made Draco feel a bit braver.

"Let's discuss your options Draco." Dumbledore said kindly.

"I haven't got any options!" said Draco, the color draining out of him "I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!"

"I can help you Draco," Dumbledore insisted.

"No, you can't," Draco said, trying to steady his shaking wand. "Nobody can. He told me to do it or he'll kill me. I've got no choice."

"Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine." Dumbledore said. "What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban ... when the time comes we can protect him too ...Draco ... you are not a killer ..."

Draco could feel himself beginning to break down. He didn't want to cry in front of Dumbledore. He lowered his wand a fraction of an inch as he considered this offer. He wanted this to be over. He wanted his family to be safe. Before he could make a decision though, the door to the tower was flung open, and his decision was made for him. He was in too deep. He was a Death Eater now.

He watched in horror as Snape killed Dumbledore. He felt himself being dragged numbly back through the castle, and off into the woods. Life as he knew it was over. Through the fog that filled his brain, Hermione's face drifted forward, and he felt his heart break as he knew that he would never see her again.