A/N: Here's another chapter for ya. This story as you can see is drawing to a close, and I just wanted to thank you guys for still reading after my extended absence. And I had to split this chapter in half, it's was bordering two thousand words without the author's note.

DISCLAIMER: Still down own Harry Potter.

The bruises had faded weeks ago. However, every time he looked at her arm he saw them. They'd gotten worse before they got better, hitting an almost black color before fading. And she'd forgiven him, for the most part. Of course, her attitude towards him, like her bruises, had gotten worse, colder, before it got better, warmer. For the first two days, she wouldn't let him near her. She wouldn't even look his way. In Potions, when he'd accidentally brush against her, she'd flinch away as if he'd burned her. His evening walks through the corridor, and to the school's secret room, were silent, save the sounds of his footsteps. The sound of her voice ranting about her day, or having a serious discussion, or even laughing was missing. The corridors seemed to taunt him with their silence. Before he never noticed how silent the corridors were, well he never paid it much attention. It wasn't until she was gone that could hear just how loud the silence was, and it was killing him. It was killing her too. He pretended not to notice the way she looked at him from the corner of her eye, longingly. He pretended not to see when she'd reach out to him in class, for his hand – that always sat on the desk between them, waiting – and have to physically stop herself. Blaise would send venomous glares down the table as he ate breakfast with his completely oblivious sister, while Draco pretended not to look at her over the rim of his glass. The one thing that he did notice was how angry Adrienne got whenever Pansy was around. She'd broken several quills and crushed many more tarts because of the presence of the pug-faced girl. He ignored all of her advances, and yet she was always there. She was persistent, she'd give her that.

On the third day, as he was leaving the common room, she bounded down the stairs from the girl's dormitory. Her dark hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, and out of her eyes unlike it had been for the past two days, and her uniform was unwrinkled and her green tie was perfectly knotted. He'd continued to walk for a moment, knowing that she didn't want to talk to him. That was until she leaned on the banister, her elbows on the railing, and called out to him. He looked over at her, eyebrow arched. She made a com-hither motion with her index finger and Draco obeyed. Hands in his pockets he approached her, his grey eyes never leaving her dark brown ones. He stopped when the banister was the only thing separating their bodies. He placed his band on the wrought iron bars holding the railing to the floor, and to his surprise, her hand covered his. Before he could say anything, she kissed him. He knew then that he was forgiven.

That day had been weeks ago. Even now as she leaned against him with a book in her hand, he was plagued by the thoughts of her bruises. His arm ran parallel to the back of the sofa, her feet were tucked under her body and her side was pressed against his.

"Adrienne," he started slowly.

"Hmm?" she hummed in response.

"I-'

"Don't," she said cutting him off as she turned the page in her book.

"Adrienne," he tried again.

"Don't."

"But-"

"Don't," she said again.

He sighed and tangled his fingers in her dark hair, before planting a kiss on her temple. She closed her book and turned her brown eyes to his get ones. "What?" he asked her.

"Were you trying to apologize?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I stand by what I said: don't."

"Adrienne," he tried one last time. She pushed away from him and stood. There was a small smile on her lips, so he knew that she wasn't angry. His eyes followed her as she walked to the stair's of the girls dormitory.

"Goodnight," she called as she ascended the stairs.

"Zabini," he called to her. She descended the stairs and he looked over his shoulder at her. Her eyebrow was lifted. "Goodnight."

More days passed, and Draco's attention shifted from pleasing Adrienne, mending their relationship, to the demand of the Dark Lord. Their evening walks, she'd started joining him again, had fallen silent. In Defense Against the Dark Arts, she'd reach for his hand, that was always on the desk between them, his body would tense, only for a moment. Draco was too far gone in his thoughts. When she talked to him, she felt like she was talking to a brick wall. He would nod in all the right places, but she knew that he wasn't there with her, not mentally anyway. It seemed like he was just going through the motions of his relationship. He'd hold her hand because he had too. He'd kiss her because it was right. He was distant. He was cold. But she understood why.

She was sitting at breakfast. Mel was sitting beside her on her right yapping on about something or other. Blaise was sitting across from her, his hands folded on the table. Adrienne was pushing a ripe blueberry around her plate with her fork, as Melanie talked and talked and talked.

"Melanie," Adrienne snapped, as she stabbed the blueberry with her fork. The juices squirted everywhere, staining the table cloth and her plate with a purplish color. "Stop talking, please."

Melanie shot her friend a hurt look, but remained silent. For a moment, Adrienne felt bad; she hadn't meant to snap at her, but she couldn't take it anymore. In the midst of everything going on in her life, in Draco's life, the he said, she said of the school didn't concern her. Everything seemed so unimportant. The he said, she said meant nothing. The days were passing rapidly and the end of June was approaching quickly. Draco's success was the only thing on her mind; his survival was more important to her.

"Adrienne," her brother said to her, pulling her away from her thoughts. He was looking over her shoulder at the door.

Adrienne looked over shoulder and spotted Draco, looking paler than usual. He just looked tired. She knew that he hadn't been sleeping, well he'd been sleeping less than he was before. He'd been spending long days and nights cooped up in the Room of Requirement. At first, she'd been able access the room and pull him out. However, as of late, she'd hadn't been able to get the room to let her in, he was blocking her out. Other times she would find him sobbing in the bathroom in the second floor, Moaning Myrtle's bathroom, and she, Myrtle, would be there comforting him. The ghost would always fly away , wailing, as she approached him, Draco would always turn to her with his wand drawn. However after realizing it was her, he'd turn back to the sink, his hands gripping the side of the white porcelain sink. She would always approach him slowly, with her hands folded behind her back, and when she got to him she would run her fingers through his pale blond hair, and wrap her arms around his neck. Her touch soothed him. His body stopped shaking with her touch. As her fingers ran though his hair, he grip on the sink would slowly lessen, until she was able to pull him away. On occasion, he would slide down the wall and sit on the bathroom floor, where Adrienne would join him, and he would tell her how he doubted himself. How he was going to fail the Dark Lord with this, impossible suicide mission, as he called it. She'd tell him that she'd stand beside him, no matter what. Once he was calm, he would stand and straighten his tie, he would then look at Adrienne, his grey eyes thanking her. However, they both knew better than to speak of these meetings. They happened in secret and it stayed in secret.

As his grey eyes met with her brown ones, she felt the corner of her lips tug upward. She saw the action reflected on his lips. The moment was brief as he made his way towards the table. He stopped short, His gaze had switched from her, to Harry Potter. The two boys shared a look, and then Draco was gone. Potter followed.

Adrienne and her brother shared a look. She was standing up before him, stumbling over the bench before him, and running out of the Great Hall before him. She knew where he would go. It had quickly become his safe haven, and if she could get there she could go with him. However, when she arrived at the at dead end on the seventh floor, there was no sign of Potter or that the Room of Requirement had been entered. So she took off, knowing that she'd gone the wrong direction. She had to make up for lost time. Her heart was racing as she expertly ran down the stairs. Her next location, the bathroom on the second floor.

"Ms. Zabini," the familiar voice of Professor Snape drawled out to her. Adrienne slid to a stop at the base of the stairs. She turned to him, her eyes were impatient. "Is there a problem?" Before Adrienne could answer there was a loud crashing sound followed by the faint sound of running water. Adrienne took off down the corridor again. "Ms. Zabini," Snape called as he followed her. The sound of dueling heightened as she ran, and then as suddenly as it appeared it was gone. Adrienne stopped short and Snape walked into the bathroom. There was a silent moment and then Harry exited the bathroom. Adrienne glared at him as he walked out with his head down. When she entered the bathroom, she saw the blood. Adrienne's breath stopped. This had been something she'd been dreading. It plagued her dreams and her thoughts. Draco's body covered in blood, laying at the Dark Lord's feet, dead. Of course, she knew he wasn't dead because she could hear him grunting in pain.

"Vulnera Sanentur," Snape muttered once, twice, three times. The pain in Draco's face seemed to fade. "Dittany, Ms. Zabini." Adrienne arched her eyebrow, how did he know she had that. "Now, Ms. Zabini," he scolded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial of Dittany. "Get Madam Pomfrey, speak to no one."