Harry slipped out of the room and into the sliver of light before closing the door behind him. He checked to make sure no one was watching, missing Hermione completely in his haste, and pulled out the Invisibility Cloak. His whole body disappeared as he threw it over his shoulders, hurrying down the way that Snape and Draco had gone. Harry's sudden involvement made the choice for her. She couldn't follow to eavesdrop without getting caught.

She stayed where she was, hoping that eventually Harry or Draco would make their way back and she could get some answers. Granted if it was Harry it would only be half the story, but at least she would be able to glean if Draco seemed okay or not... Reaching up she wiped away the speckles of blood that had collected on the inside of her bottom lip from her incessant nibbling.

What had caused Draco to be lurking in the hallways around the party? Was he just at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or had he planned on crashing it? Why had Snape looked so tense if it was a simple curfew violation? Would he bring him before Dumbledore for something so mundane? Was Harry able to track them down? Would the boy get caught and end up in trouble as well? Why was Draco out past curfew for the third night in a row? Did he ever sleep?

Her mind churned with her questions, unsure of what to do next. If no one came back she would have to head to her dorm. Maybe she could wait for Harry in the common room... He would eventually have to make his way up there. It would probably be the smartest choice, but if she did she might miss her last chance to see Draco before the long Christmas break... The thought chilled her more than she would like to admit considering she had already resigned herself to not seeing him until January.

While their times together had been awkward and tension filled, there had also been a feeling of... Camaraderie? No, that wasn't the right word... Connection... Maybe? Their fragile string of trust had built a connection between the two of them. One that promised if they could continue to push through the uncomfortable sludge of their past, it would become easy. As easy as breathing. Hell, after three meetings it already felt like she was willing to chance everything for just a few more stolen moments with the boy.

It might have been the fact that he was just as flawed as she was. Or perhaps it boiled down to her never being able to keep him. He was a Death Eater's son after all... And she was a dirty mudblood... She wasn't the type of girl he could take home to meet the parents. To top it off, her best friend being the boy who kept throwing a wrench in their sordid plans, solidified her status as scum beneath their Pureblooded shoes.

Her rank was right up next to Harry on the "Kill on Sight'' list, she even sported the freaking scar to prove it. If it hadn't been a non-verbal curse she wouldn't exist on this plane anymore. The fact that she had thought to compare them to a twisted Romeo and Juliet was laughable... What were two families squabbling compared to the planned extinction of a whole class of wizards and witches?

She sighed as she leaned her forehead against the cool stone in front of her, concentrating on the sounds going on around her instead of relying on her sight to sense an approach.

Even with innumerable odds stacked against them she couldn't help feeling that it was worth it. They had found an acceptance of who they truly were in the presence of the last person either of them would have expected. That was the word that she had been searching for... Acceptance.

They accepted the best and worst of each other. Draco didn't find fault in the things that most people perceived as annoying about her. He allowed her the time she needed to disentangle her thoughts when they got twisted. Unlike Harry and Ron. He found the way that she could get worked up about a passage in a book funny instead of exasperating. Unlike Ginny. He liked the way she challenged him. Unlike... Well, just about anyone.

And she... She knew some of the worst that he had to offer and still could see the hero underneath it all, trapped in a world that did everything it could to crush him.

So she stayed where she was, banking on the slim chance that she would be able to see him once more before the real world separated them. For all she knew going home might trigger him to hate her again and then she would be all alone, without the distraction that he provided for her... Alone in the hell that was quickly becoming her life. She wanted the chance to tell him she didn't want that.

A good twenty minutes went by with no sounds of approach, the only thing to break the deafening silence was the random muffled outburst from the party. She knew that she couldn't stand there forever. Someone was bound to either leave the festivities or happen upon her standing there like a fool with no good excuse. Just as she was about to give in and head up to the common room to wait for Harry she heard the sound she had held out for. Light footsteps against stone…

Hermione peaked around the corner and saw his willowy frame making its way down the corridor. He stopped in front of the door and looked like he was debating with himself on whether he should go in or not. What could possibly drive him to try and party crash after already getting caught? His stubbornness made little sense, if Snape's demeanor was any indication, he had already been served a harsh punishment for the first offense.

"Psst... Draco!" She whispered, hoping it was enough to get his attention.

He turned towards her and shook his head before quickly walking over to her. When he was finally standing in front of her she was able to take an assessment of him. His hair was ruffled and the dark circles under his eyes had her wondering if he had slept at all since their first night together. She watched as the icy facade cracked in his eyes and they started swirling again; there was so much anger and... and... and fear, that it took her breath away.

"What's... What's wrong?" She asked him, concerned.

He didn't answer her, instead his hand wrapped around her lower back and pulled her roughly against him. A squeak escaped from between her lips and she went to complain but his lips claimed hers. There was no other word for it. He wasn't gentle as he coaxed her lips to allow his tongue entrance. It was the brutish kiss that she had thought their first would be. He remorselessly took, moving their lips and tongues in the ways that he wanted them to. And for some reason she let him…

Rather than push him away- she moaned into the kiss as one of his hands moved into her hair and twisted. It caused a sting of pain at the nape of her neck before he pulled her even harder against him. She didn't protest. She knew the look he had given her. She had seen it in the mirror too many times when she was teetering on the edge of an attack. Right at that moment when everything had become too much and was crashing down on her... So she let him take whatever he needed. A willing participant to his domination.

Draco pushed her up against the wall and pressed his hips into her stomach. The added weight dug the skin of her back into the sharp ridges in the stone and she couldn't stop the gasp of pain that broke free from her. At the sound he instantly pulled away, putting a good foot between them. His breath left him in shaky gasps as he tried to reign his emotion back under control.

Her heartbeat was so hard in her ears she felt lightheaded. Her legs were trembling so she stayed where she was, pressed up tightly against the cold wall. Between her own pants for air she whispered. "Are you okay?"

"I will be." He choked out. Slowly his breathing returned to normal and he stood up straighter before he finally met her eye again. "Come with me. We need to talk..."

He slipped his hand in hers and pulled her along until they came to the closest unused room. An empty closet that must have been for storage at some point. Her mind drifted as she wondered why there were so many unneeded rooms in the castle. It was almost as if the faculty was trying to entice students to sneak away…

He opened the door for her and waited for her to enter like the gentleman he had been raised to be. She quickly stepped into the pitch black space. Unable to see she pulled her wand from her waist band and muttered a Lumos charm. It was definitely cramped and covered in dust but it was suitable enough for a conversation.

Draco followed her in and closed the door behind him. He stared at her in the soft white light that emanated from her wand tip for a moment before sliding the robes from his arms and throwing it to the ground. He then toed the fabric into the space between the ground and the edge of the door.

Her eyebrow raised at the action. This was obviously not his first time in a closet with a girl. She had to bite the inside of her already sore lips to stop from asking him about it. He seemed like he had something more specific on his mind that they needed to speak about so she kept herself quiet, letting him take the lead.

"I... I am sorry for what just happened. That was not tolerable behavior on my part." He started off, staring down at the ground. His shame was evident and she didn't want him to remember the encounter that way…

"If I didn't like what you were doing I would have let you know instead of enthusiastically returning your affections Draco." She told him, the light from her wand tip burning slightly brighter as the minutes old memories ran through her mind.

It was his turn to have an eyebrow arch up as a smirk crossed his lips and he drawled. "Hmmmm... I will have to remember that..."

The implied future found in his words caused a shiver to run up and down her spine. So he didn't have any immediate plans to tell her that whatever it was that they were doing had to end. That calmed some of her fears…

"Did you just want to apologize or was there something else you wished to speak about?" She asked. The tension was still there in the set of his shoulders, there had to be something else bothering him.

"Look... I know the question that I am about to ask you is going to piss you off and I have no right to be asking it in the first place. But please remember we are in an enclosed space with you casting a Lumos spell... If you decide to lose it we will be stumbling out of here blind, alright?" He said, eyeing her hand gripped tightly around her wand.

Worried about what he wanted to ask, her eyes slid down to the bright tip of her wand, she did not want their last time seeing each other before the two week break to end abysmally because she couldn't control her temper. It physically hurt how badly she wanted more good memories for the times she needed something persuasive to turn to... Like when the nightmares inevitably came at night and she needed a distraction from the images of cruelty and murder that wouldn't stop their repetitive ambush in her head. She would lay awake until she couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and go over all her best memories as a way to quell the darkness that whispered of her possible future. It was embarrassing how many now featured Draco…

"Okay..." She nodded, steeling herself for whatever it was.

"Why in the hell did you take McLaggen to that stupid party?" He grumbled, the jealousy plainly etched into his face when she quickly looked up in shock.

Shit...