She was coughing hard as she heard shouting around her. She was confused as she was pulled from the water with Krum following after her. Shivers ran down her spine as another student wrapped a black towel around her. She looked like a drowned rat in her robes. Her honey eyes watched as she came back to reality. She was on a wooden platform with Krum standing triumphantly. Her head lowered as she clenched her fist against the old makeshift platform. She remembered going with Professor Moody, but she lost track of what happened after that. Now, She watched as many shouted at Krum's triumph for rescuing her. Krum was standing on the platform rolling in the excitement of the crowd pumping him up. She fell to her knees, she wasn't well.

She started to cough up water now, her lungs were on fire. She searched the crowd now as she tried to find Ron, but her eyes fell on someone else who was watching her intently. Malfoy looked at her with concern, but he frowned and shook his head once their eyes met. She could see him talking to Crabbe and Goyle. The two started laughing, she could only imagine what dirty slang he was using with the two now that he knew she was safe. She wasn't even sure if he was worried about her or if he knew she was in the water at all.

She felt Krum grab hold of her right arm as he lifted her up and pulled her into a tight hug. The towel fell to the ground. Malfoy watched still from his seat. Once she glanced back up to him she could feel something wasn't right he looked angry and upset with how Krum was acting with her in his arms. Why would he be jealous of Krum right now?

A nurse on the platform came over and took Hermione away from Krum when the nurse realized that she was struggling a bit. She wrapped another black towel around her to help dry her and keep her warm. Wet hair clung to her face. Krum didn't bat an eye as he watched the water for the other champions. Hermione sat on an old wooden bench as the nurse examined her. She stopped once she got down to her left knee and noticed a cut, she lifted the cut-up legging. Hermione didn't notice that she had been bleeding. When Krum had grabbed her under the water he had accidentally cut her with his shark teeth as he rescued her. The nurse carefully wrapped the wound. Krum didn't care that she had been hurt by him, his goal was to ensure he was first in rescuing a treasure that had been taken from him in the middle of the night.

But she wasn't his true treasure like she was to someone else.

Hermione glanced up to the stands again, but noticed that Malfoy had left leaving his two lacky's behind. Why would he leave? She thought he would surely want to see if Harry was successful and knew Malfoy would be hoping Harry failed. She waited now, she wouldn't let the nurse take her away, she wanted to wait for Harry.

It wasn't long before she watched as the other champions came to the surface. She noticed that Fleur Delacour came to the surface, but without anyone. Her eyes went straight to the water, what had happened, what was taking Harry so long to come up to the surface now. Time was running out and she watched as two figures broke the surface. Ron and Fleur's younger sister Gabriella took deep breaths. Ron helped the younger girl to the edge of the dock. The younger sister was lifted, and Ron was next. Both were wrapped with black towels, but Fleur hugged onto Ron thanking him for helping her younger sister, how he had helped save her and like Ron, he ran with what she was saying and played it off like he truly had. He was enjoying the attention and didn't seem to notice Hermione sitting alone with a bandaged leg.

Harry soon came to the surface of the water. Hermione ran over and hugged Harry excited that he was able to make it back to the surface, even though he stated that he lost, he didn't make it in time. She listened as Dumbledore talked about Harry's actions and that he had tied With Cedric, putting both of them in first place for the next challenge. As the tournament came to an end the rescued were whisked away to be taken care of.

Hermione left the hospital wing after she had been tended to and she was fully dry and given a pair of dry clothing. Instead of heading towards the Gryffindor tower, she headed towards the Astronomy tower. She didn't know if she would find Malfoy up there, but if he wasn't she would return to her tower. She still didn't feel well, but she needed to find him something didn't feel right. She used the wall to keep her balance as she limped up the steps.

Her heart felt like it was beating a million miles an hour as she reached the top of the metal steps after the cobblestone steps had ended. Her footsteps echoed against the old metal. Malfoy was looking out over the courtyard below as the inaudible chirps from the students below bounced around the courtyard. The rain had been falling for the past hour since she had been in the hospital wing. "Are you ok?" She spoke up as she took a couple of steps forward, she was breathing heavily the walk up the steps with her leg injured took a lot out of her, but once she was at the top she stayed out of sight of the courtyard not wanting anyone to see her close to Malfoy. "When I looked for you again in the stands, but I couldn't find you again."

"Shouldn't I ask the same thing? Or are you still going to enjoy being in the spotlight with Krum?" He spoke, but didn't look at her. She heard something clink against the metal of the railing. His left hand rested on the top rail, but his index finger seemed to be tapping against the rail.

"How dare you." She growled out. "You think I wanted to be part of this? Professor McGonagall asked Ron and I to go with her. Next thing I knew I was struggling not to drown in the lake as people cheered above me. I had no idea I was Krum's prized possession. I don't know if you could tell, but he treated me like a trophy."

Malfoy turned around and faced her as he shook his head at her response. "Why wouldn't you be? He asked you to the dance didn't he and you chose to go with him."

"Why are you so concerned about who had asked me and who I went with? You yourself said I looked happy for the first time and a long time. Was that a lie?" She spoke out.

Malfoy walked towards her quickly. She took a few steps back until she was back against the cobblestone wall. The freezing stone wall rippled through her body. Even with the fresh warm clothes she couldn't escape the cold. He stood face to face with her. "Shouldn't you be with Potter and Weasley? Weren't they concerned that the little mudblood got injured?"

She looked at him sadly. "I came to find you after all of this. I was concerned when you vanished from the seats." Her head lowered. "I know you were mocking me to your little group."

"What did I say about you lowering your head to me?" He lifted her chin, his cold gray eyes looking down into her honey eyes. "The way Krum acted, the way he held you and acted like you were a trophy. He didn't care about the fact you were sicker than a dog and had a slice on your leg that he inflicted. A prized possession he didn't care about that he injured in the process of rescuing."

Hermione was surprised at how he was speaking to her. Was this out of concern for her well-being or was it something else? "Malfoy." She whispered out. "What is going to happen when I'm injured by a death eater? Or your father again."

He frowned as he pushed some of her bangs behind her left ear. "At least I would be concerned even if I didn't show it."

"Will you be concerned when you are the one that hurts me?" She whispered once more as she looked at him sadly. "That's a big possibility Malfoy."

"Just shut your filthy mouth." He leaned in and captured her lips in his. She was startled, but didn't fight him. Her hands rested against his chest as he kept her chin up. Her eyes closed as he kept her in place. Time felt like it froze. All the anger she felt seemed to melt away with his deep passionate kiss. He had come at her angry and upset, but now both were calm. A cold breeze rolled through the open astronomy tower.

Malfoy broke the kiss as he took a few steps back her honey eyes opening halfway as she looked at him confused, but started to grow angry. "I don't understand you. First, you are upset and angry at me, next you are telling me you would actually care about me."

Malfoy frowned he could tell that the fire in her belly was set to boil as he watched her get angry. "Why do you want to argue with me when I'm trying to tell you that I care."

Hermione swallowed when she heard his words. He did care about her in a weird way he was concerned about her when he saw that she was one of the precious treasures that had been taken. She was looked at as Krum's precious treasure, but now she realized she might be someone else's treasure, even if they wouldn't outright admit it to her. "You were upset that I was someone else's treasure."

Malfoy frowned as he walked back over to the edge looking out to the courtyard, his hands gripping tightly to the metal frame of the railing. "The fact that everyone you allow in don't even notice the little things that hurt you. Did Potter or Weasley even ask you how your leg was or did they carry on with their conversations? Let me guess Krum didn't meet you at the hospital wing, did he? He's probably on board that boat celebrating his victory."

Hermione shook her head. "No, no one asked me. You've been the only one that's been concerned about my injury. I didn't even see Krum once I left the platform."

"If they cared they would have asked." He walked back over and led her over to the stone bench and had her sit as he pulled her black legging up on her leg to examine the cut that was bandaged. Malfoy knelt in front of her and pulled out his wand and waved it above the cut. "Vulnera Sanentur." He whispered out. "I don't know why you didn't wait for them to heal this at the hospital wing."

She watched him intently as he worked on the large gash on her leg. "I wanted to come find you. I was worried." She whispered back.

Malfoy removed the bandage that had started to soak through from her hurrying to find him. "I won't be able to remove the scare or the limp, but at least the bleeding has stopped."

"Thank you Malfoy." Her voice was soft and caring as he pulled her legging down to her ankle.

"Well no one else is going to look after you obviously." His tone was a bit cold again as he stood back up and looked back down at her. "Why were you so eager to find me? What would have happened if I wasn't here? What if you would have collapsed? For someone who everyone claims to be so smart sure does make some really bad decisions."

"Malfoy." She whispered sadly.

"There is a lot going on, you need to be on your guard, and you need to understand that those you surround yourself with might not be the best choice." Malfoy frowned still. "I will not always be there for you as this war continues to grow underground. "You need to be ready to fight when the time comes."

"Even if it's against you?" Hermione's voice cracked.

"When the time comes." He whispered.

Hermione lowered her head at his words. Things were starting to get worse at Hogwarts. There were more whispers about what was going on from other students. By other Professors, she had overheard Harry talking to Ron about something that Snape had mentioned to Karkaroff. about the mark. "Are you going to become a Death Eater Malfoy?"

"Do you think I will have a choice? What do you think will happen if I say no?" He folded his arms across his chest as he shook his head. "Just don't think about it. It's best not to know the details of what my fate will be or yours."

"So we should focus on this moment then." She looked back up as he turned to face her.

Malfoy nodded as he watched her. "I do want to go one day where I'm not yelling at you, but I guess today is not the day." He smirked.

Hermione shook her head as she looked out at the rain coming down. "Malfoy, what do you think would happen if your father found out about us hanging out like this." She bit her bottom lip. "Or about the kisses."

"In this case, I would be the one to be punished and not you." He took a seat next to her on the bench. "You shouldn't have chased after me Granger. You should be resting."

"If you didn't want me to find you, why would you come to our secret spot?" She spoke sadly. "I just, I just wanted to make sure we were ok, but I understand now that we are, but I feel better knowing after we fought that we were ok."

"Now that you know will you go and rest in your dorm?" He spoke sadly. "Will have more time together, but you need to rest."

"I'm fine, really I am. Let's just rest here for a minute while everyone is off celebrating. No one will be looking for either one of us sadly." She watched him carefully now. "I think this is the first time, I'm ok with the idea of not being found."

Hermione rested her head on his left shoulder and closed her eyes. She listened to the rain now as it hit against the old astronomy tower. They had a piece of silence in a fractured world. Malfoy was always going to be mean and cruel, but in his way, he did show her that he cared about her well-being. Malfoy was pointing out to her how the others acted, that what they were doing wasn't an act of love, but as an obligation. Even now, she had slipped passed Harry and Ron without them even knowing she was gone. Who knows how long until they actually noticed she was no longer around? Would they just assume that she went back to the dorm to rest or read? Both boys were so caught up in the Triwizard tournament that they forgot about a girl who clung to the idea that she had been accepted. Ron only gave her attention when deemed necessary and used her as a middleman when he was upset with Harry. Both boys didn't take into consideration that she was overwhelmed, trying to make sure she didn't take any sides.

But now, Ron was still probably wrapped around Fleur's finger as she continued to thank him for saving her sister. What about her? She was one of the treasures that was lost below, he didn't even ask if she was ok, he just found himself locking eyes with Fleur's.

Harry wasn't even phased by how Ron was acting. Hermione was feeling like she was being pushed out from her friend group more and more. She didn't really feel like she belonged anymore. She wondered if this was how Malfoy felt. Why he wouldn't call his cronies friends because he was isolated because of who his family was. That many feared or were disgusted by his family name, except for the Slytherin house.

The rain was starting to let up, the chatter below had stopped over a half away ago. But now there was yelling and shouting below from Professors. Malfoy stood and had Hermione wait at the bench. Malfoy stood near the railing as he listened down below. Hagrid was bellowing about Harry finding Barty Crouch Sr. in the woods. Professor Snape and Professor Mad-Eye Moody, Karkaroff was shouting as well. Hermione stood and walked over as he watched the scene below.

"What's going on." She whispered.

"Something's happened, I'm not quite sure, but you need to go, and I need to go. I don't think it's safe right now. You go down first, and I'll come down after. You need to go now." He spoke as he pushed her back towards the doorway of the tower.

"I don't understand, what are you not telling me Malfoy." She stopped right before the doorway, turning to face him.

"I don't have time for the Granger, I'm sure Potter will tell you all about it, I'm guessing he's involved." He pushed her through the doorway. She glared at him before she used the wall as a brace as she headed down the staircase.

Malfoy returned to watch the scene below, something bad had happened. This death was no accident, it had to be an attack from an outside source. He noticed that Professor Snape had locked eyes with him. His stomach knotted. Malfoy wasn't sure if he had caught sight of Hermione with him or not a moment ago.

Hermione had reached the bottom of the stairs and headed for the Gryffindor tower. She stopped when she saw Harry being ushered off to Professor Dumbledore's office. What had happened and what had Harry seen? Something was going on and everyone was trying to stay quiet. She would have to wait for Harry to tell her what had happened.