AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, this time I have a reeeeeeeeeeally good reason for why this took so long. I had placement at university PLUS I had a lot of medical stuff going on. BUT I'm on summer vacation now until September so I have no excuses not to write pretty much all the time now ^^

Thank you to hoshiakari7, Neakco, daswhoiam, Stephanie and Angela for reviewing the last chapter! Especially Angela; you motivated me to get off my butt and finally write this chapter!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter; please review!

This chapter is dedicated to NeverRegretAnything, flomaxhug, luupitaoropeza, PopRockShawty (HEY GURL), angelaatang, zellewalnut and membridget.

DISCLAIMER: I ain't J.K. Rowling.

Columbine

Hermione gritted her teeth as she quickly followed Fred and Ginny through the throngs of panicked witches and wizards. How had it all gone so wrong so quickly? One minute she was having a great time with Harry, Ron and his family, and the next they were all running for their lives from a group of hooded figures making a mockery out of the Roberts family. What happened to the Quidditch World Cup being fun?

Being really worried about falling behind Harry and Ron, Hermione kept darting her head around like an owl, being sure to always keep them in her line of sight. Out of the corner of her eye however she spotted a flash of bright blonde hair. Spinning about she spotted a tall boy running away, caught up in the panic of the crowd. Despite everything going on around her she sighed. It wasn't Draco.

When Draco had been bragging about his excellent seats to them earlier he had kept shooting Hermione sly winks and grins when nobody had been looking, and it had been difficult for Hermione to stop her giggles. The two unlikely friends had managed to keep in touch over the summer, although Draco had to borrow Crabbe's owl to do so under the excuse that he was sending her prank letters. Luckily for both of them Draco's order to Crabbe that he was not to open any replies before Draco was able to read them had been followed to the letter, as Crabbe was still quite frightened of Draco and his father didn't want him to fall out with the Malfoy family.

Part of Hermione had wanted that flash of platinum she'd seen to be Draco running to find her and make sure she was safe. She knew it was a silly thing to hope for, and she was fairly certain that his father would have gotten Draco to safety the moment that any trouble broke out. He was almost certainly safe and that thought did make Hermione feel a little better.

That being said if she kept standing about then she wouldn't be safe herself, so shaking her head free of thoughts of Draco coming to rescue her Hermione looked around for Harry and Ron. Her heart started to beat a little faster when she realised she couldn't see them. Desperately looking around for any flash of red hair she began to panic. She'd lost them. She was lost.

Normally in a situation like this Hermione would have been able to remain calm and simply ask someone else for help. But right now everyone was running scared, and to make matters worse the masked figures were heading right towards her. Filled with terror Hermione bolted, heading right for the trees of the forest that surround what had been the Quidditch ground. If she could hide until they'd gone then she could find Harry and the Weasleys. No doubt once they regrouped and realised she was missing they'd go looking for her.

Practically tumbling down the hill towards the forest Hermione ducked behind a tree and squeezed her eyes shut, holding her breath for good measure. If those masked men found her… She shuddered. She didn't want to even think about what might happen.

"Hermione?"

Hermione's eyes shot open and she allowed herself to breathe again as Draco appeared before her. She'd never seen the Slytherin look more worried in the three year she'd known him as he did now.

"Draco? What are you doing here?" she hissed. "It isn't safe!"

Draco's eyes widened in disbelief before he rolled them slightly and grabbed hold of Hermione's hand. Without leaving her time to get embarrassed Draco was pulling her further into the forest and away from the chaos of the field behind them.

He finally came to a stop in a clearing of blue, yellow, red and lilac columbine flowers, but he didn't let go of her hand.

"It isn't safe?" he muttered under his breath before turning to face her. "It isn't safe?! It isn't safe for you Hermione. It's muggle-borns they're looking for! You're the one who's in danger! Death Eaters don't believe that muggles or muggle-borns belong anywhere in this world."

"Wait, Death Eaters?" Hermione frowned. "The followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

Draco nodded. "That's them, the people in the masks. Hermione, you're not safe here. You have to go-"

Before Draco could finish his sentence he was cut off by something behind Hermione. Hermione slowly turned around, afraid that the Death Eaters had found them, but she relaxed when she saw what had caught his attention. It was a group of fireflies.

Looking around them, the unlikely pair suddenly realised they were surrounded by the fireflies but had been too caught up in the situation to notice them.

"We must have startled them when we ran into the clearing…" Hermione murmured.

"Will they hurt us?" Draco asked quietly.

Hermione giggled slightly. "No, they're harmless. They're just…really pretty."

"Mmm…" Draco agreed.

Both of them seemed to realise at the same time that they were still holding hands as they both looked down at their entwined fingers at the same time. Their eyes meeting again they laughed nervously but smiled, forgetting the panic they'd been immersed in only moments ago for these few seconds of peace.

Hermione dipped her head down out of embarrassment but her eyes quickly rose again to meet Draco's when he gently placed his hand under her chin to tilt it back up. Their faces were so close… Close enough that Hermione could feel Draco's shaky breath hit her nose. If she just leaned a little closer…

But she couldn't.

She knew she couldn't. Draco's father would kill him. So once again Hermione dipped her head down and this time Draco made no effort to try and tilt her head back up. She heard him sigh slightly behind she felt a pressure on her forehead. Glancing up she smiled shyly as she realised their foreheads were now resting against each other's.

But of course this moment of peace couldn't last forever. An explosion from the field she had just fled made Hermione jump and the fear entered her heart once more.

"You need to go," Draco repeated his earlier statement but this time with more sadness than urgency.

"Yeah…you're right…" Hermione replied before squeezing his hand tightly. "Will you…?"

Draco smiled and nodded. "I'll be fine, I promise. You get back to your friends. I'll see you at school."

Hermione nodded back slowly before reluctantly letting go of Draco's hand. Smiling sadly one last time at him she turned around and headed back into the trees. When she turned around to look for him he was gone, but Hermione was confident that he was watching over her from somewhere. With that thought pushing her on Hermione carried back on through the trees to find the others and avoid the Death Eaters.

AN: I know this was really short but hopefully it was quite sweet. I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!