Every muscle in her body started to shake as she stood in the corridor and stared into the darkness after the boy. She could not get her body to obey her commands to move and instead sank to her knees. The panic attack that had been trailing her since Theodore's first materialization threatened to consume her. Even though she logically knew she should feel relief, the only emotion that would surface was the despair she had shoved down far enough to function earlier.

A scream tore out of her lungs and was quickly muffled into the crook of her elbow. Pictures of all of the people she had thought she was about to lose swam before her eyelids.

Harry... Ginny... Tonks... Neville... Luna... Ron... Fred... George... Her Parents... Mr. and Mrs. Weasley... Lupin…

Draco…

She pressed her face even tighter into her flesh and sobbed as she realized just how important he had become to her to be added to the involuntary list. The severity of how deep her betrayal ran lashed at her, making it hard for her to breathe. There was no coming back from her choices now. She had known the cost in the abstract, that first night and every night after, but now that the reality had been dangled in front of her…

The crushing fear immobilized her. Hermione had no clue how long she sat there and fell apart but eventually the stinging pain in her legs registered. She slowly got to her feet and wiped the evidence of her breakdown from her face with her free hand. Draco's note was still tightly clenched in the other.

She made her way to Gryffindor Tower and up to her dorm. Thankful for the empty numbness that proceeded an attack. Usually it helped her to be able to think in peace and try to figure out a solution to whatever had triggered her anxiety, but all that she wanted to do was curl up in bed and pretend her life wasn't hers any longer.

Once she was positioned at the foot of her bed she had to physically pry her fingers from her palm so she could set the paper down. As quietly as she could, she changed into a pair of pajamas and climbed into bed before drawing the curtains and casting her new nightly ritual of protection charms around herself. Her paranoia about the girl who slept a few feet away still hadn't abated and she wasn't willing to wake up one morning with no hair on her head…

Hermione sat cross-legged and stared down at what looked like a crinkled piece of trash. It was situated exactly where she had left it, not shifting when she had jostled the blanket. She debated with herself on just setting the thing on fire. That would be the smartest choice. Put an end to their dalliances and avoid him. There was an undeniable safety in that path... For her and for him.

She would be able to go back to the way things should have turned out. If she had never made the choice to go to the party... As she sat there the future that she had wanted for years played out in front of her. Winning the war... Inevitably ending up with Ron... Getting married... Their own little brood of kids running around under foot... Growing old with everyone she cared about by her side... All of it had been within her grasp. It still could be if she could find the strength in herself to be content. Content in her friendships and the assuredness of that future.

In comparison, the dubious and unlikely future with Draco was filled with questions. A million questions that all hung on a thousand "What ifs". What if their choice somehow meant losing the war? What if it didn't? What if once it was all over he ended up not wanting to be with her? What if he did? What if they were not strong enough to handle the fallout? What if they both lost everyone? What if they came to blame the other for the end result of their lives? What if no one was there when she was old? What if she could never rebuild the relationships that would undoubtedly be broken?

She had known what choice she needed to make before she had even asked for that first electric kiss. Even laying there, after the day that she'd just had, the desire to be in his arms had altered into an unyielding need. And the fact that he had shown up on her roster of reverenced individuals said a lot more than her coherent thoughts ever could. She valued the role he played in her life more than she had been willing to admit…

Her hand moved forward to pick up his note before she had made the cognitive decision to do so. She could not destroy the words that she had gone through such a roller coaster to get. After fully committing to the act she snatched it up and opened it. The paper was so wrinkled that she had to pull the paper tight to be able to see the words.

Sleeping Beauty-

Looks like I made a mistake. Hopefully you do not hold it against me...

I was hoping, as cliché as it is, that you would be able to meet me Friday night?

-One Hell of a Prince Charming

A confused grimace crossed her face as she tried to figure out why meeting on a Friday night would be considered cliché... And then the date smacked her in the face. No wonder why Ronald had wiggled another shift change with her earlier in the week! She had never put stock on the day as anything more than another mundane capitalist holiday... So it wasn't surprising that she hadn't remembered that Valentine's Day was in two days!

Draco Malfoy wanted to spend Valentine's Day with her. Draco Malfoy wanted to spend Valentine's Day with her. Draco Malfoy wanted to spend Valentine's Day with her!

She got caught up on the thought. No one had ever asked to spend the day with her, other than in a completely platonic way. An attempt to keep each other's thoughts from the fact that they did not have someone to celebrate with. This was, yet again, new territory for her but that didn't stop a spark of giddiness from settling into her stomach, which was closely followed by an inner chastisement.

He had been right... At least partly, they both were unnaturally and stupidly selfish creatures. Their own wants had come before anything else. Far reaching consequences be damned, but she couldn't continue to make that choice. Especially not if she truly cared what happened to the boy…

It was much too dangerous for him to have memories of her in his head when he went home. He would be tortured for any information and then killed. There would be no trial. No hope of salvation. Just horror and the ultimate price paid. One that he was apparently willing to pay, but she was not.

With a flick of her wand the small piece of parchment went up in smoke, leaving an acrid smell that tickled her nose behind. The plan that had begun to take shape in her head was faulty at best, but hopefully with a good deal of fine tuning and a lot of luck it would work. Of course, if she failed, which was highly plausible, she would be expelled... Which was a certain death sentence with no magic to defend herself once they snapped her wand. Unless she was allowed to stay on like Hagrid, Dumbledore had forgiven much worse acts before. And even if he didn't there was comfort in the fact that someone would be forced to Obliviate her. She knew far too much to just let wander around…

She laid back in her bed and hoped in vain for sleep to find her quickly.

-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-\/-

It had felt like hours before she finally settled her mind enough to shift from reality into a dream. She knew that she had to be dreaming because she was back in a dark corridor deep inside The Department of Mysteries. The evidence of a recent battle was everywhere she looked.

Her gaze centered on a large chunk of wall that had been blasted away by some curse. The tendrils of black that fanned out from the impact point were oddly beautiful. In that weird way destruction always was. Maybe it wasn't the physical aftermath that was appealing to her but the promise of repair. Everything could be mended if given enough time. Even the crater in front of her could be fixed with an incantation and wave from a wand. Such a simple fix…

She reached down to the pocket at her hip to grab her wand and do the job, but her hand touched empty fabric. As if on cue her ears picked up on the sounds of boots crunching glass underfoot. Not one or two sets, but dozens. When she looked over her shoulder she saw that a crowd had gathered around her while she had been distracted and was continuing to grow larger.

The verdict that she was being cornered came much too late for her to do anything about it. She pressed her back against the crumbling wall and let her eyes run over the faces in the crowd. Every single person that she knew was there and each face was contorted with a fiery rage. Her heartbeat started to hammer under her breast, making it hard for her to think rationally and remember that it wasn't real.

Slowly her inspection brought her to the faces she dreaded most. The absolute hatred that seethed from her three best friends caused her to stumble forward towards them. "Please... I don't..."

"Shut your lying mouth traitor. No one cares what you have to say." Ginny sneered.

"No one cares about you. Period." Ron emphasized, his whole body shaking as he restrained himself from attacking her.

Harry didn't say anything at all, he didn't have to. The look of betrayal and hurt was enough to suck any air that she had left from her lungs. His top lip lifted up into a vicious smirk as he turned his attention away from her. Each body turned to the side, some stepping back, to make an aisle for a trio of cloaked bodies to descend down.

Her hand instinctively went to her hip, floundering when it grasped empty air again. The shock of being left defenseless as the Death Eaters advanced towards her had her reaching for Harry's shoulder. If she only had the chance to explain…

"Flipendo!" She was able to discern that her attacker was female before her world was turned on its side and she landed in a crumpled heap near the wall.

For a moment she contemplated getting up... What was the point in fighting and denying anything? But she was not a coward, so she forced herself to stand and face the hate-filled mob. Her eyes zeroed in on the three people who stood in front of her. She recognized two of the masks from the last time she had been inside the Ministry of Magic. The other was unfamiliar but just as distinctive, the only ornamentation that set the figures apart. Otherwise the black billowing robes covered their clothing, giving them a uniformed look of patient death.

She figured that the shorter form with the unknown mask had to have been the caster of the knockback jinx. If Hermione's deductions on the owners of the masks proved correct the woman's partners would be men. Men, who should still be locked up in Azkaban…

"She is a feisty one... This should be fun." The female said, the hint of amusement in her tone was undeniable.

The taller of the two men, the one farthest to her left, let out a low chuckle. "I do love it when they try to fight!"

"Do you two ever shut up?" Drawled the man in the middle. The realization of who owned the voice caused her to gasp loudly, hitting her like another Flipendo.

"Oh goody, I think the jig is up. No reason to keep these on." The female said as she reached up and pulled the mask from her face, slipping it into the folds of her robes. Her two companions followed suit.

Hermione had to bite down hard on her bottom lip to keep the scream inside of her as she stared into the faces of; Pansy, Theodore and Draco. All three had almost identical smirks plastered on their faces in response to her reaction.

Pansy tilted her head to the side and coyly looked over at Draco out of the corner of her eye. "Awww... How sweet! The little twit thought you had actually changed. So cute."

She finally let her eyes settle on the boy and she instantly had to close them. It sure as hell wasn't her Draco that stood there. It was the same boy who had taken a sick gleeful pleasure in calling her a Mudblood for the first time. The one who had flushed with pride at how it broke her. She couldn't watch as the same masochistic gratification emanated from him over her confusion.

"More pathetic than anything..." She heard the younger Nott pipe up.

"So true Theo. So true!" Pansy said, the nonchalance in her voice suggested that they were contemplating a dried up worm on the sidewalk instead of a human being.

"That is enough." Malfoy snapped in a low voice before quickly continuing on much louder. As if he was speaking to the crowd instead of his escorts. "Since Miss Granger thinks our insults are tired and boring. We thought it might be fun for you all to tell her what you truly think of her..."

She shrank back against the wall as her senses were bombarded with the thunderous shouts from the crowd. It was hard for her brain to pick out individual words in the onslaught of insults. The tsunami of aggressive tension that swirled around her caused her to clasp her hands over her ears. A desperate and useless attempt to defend herself.

Eventually she couldn't handle it anymore and screamed at the top of her lungs. "Make it stop!"

Just as quickly as the assault started it vanished, leaving her ears ringing in the eerie silence. She uncupped them and slowly peeled herself from the spot she had cowered against the wall. Once she was fully standing she opened her eyes and glanced in the direction of the governing triad.

"Is that what you really want? For all of this to stop?" Draco asked her, his eyebrow raised in surprise.

"Y...y...yes?" She hesitated. Her abject terror made her thought process sluggish... And it was the truth, she wanted to wake up from the nightmare. It had to be a nightmare... None of what was happening made sense, but the way her heart beat frantically and the air kept scraping painfully in and out of her lungs, told her it had to be real…

"Alright." He said. The light of amusement was extinguished in his eyes and he turned to Nott. "You can do it. I refuse to waste the magic on such filth."

She groaned as his words cut her deeper than any of the fragmented pieces that had broken through earlier. Slowly the intent of his words dawned on her and she rushed out. "Please... I..."

"I told you what would happen, bitch." Theodore sneered down at her before he aimed his wand directly at her face.

She raised her hand in a placating gesture in front of her. "You don't have to do this."

"Oh but I want to." He told her, the smirk on his face transforming into a vicious glare as his wand tip started to glow.

She didn't hear the words as a scream tore from her mouth. There was a flash of blinding green light and she woke up in her bed. Alive and shivering.

As she panted against the fresh feeling of terror that rose in the pit of her stomach she had only one thought:

Her mind was even more horrible than reality... But there was no way for her to escape either.