Another alternate universe of our alternate universe (Ch. 73)… What would happen if Hermione somehow knew about the duel between Harry and Draco before Harry showed up in the common room afterward? A huge thank you to kukuhimanpr for sparking the fire under my Muse. She is eternally grateful for the inspiration, even if it deadlocked the progress on Anywhere But Here until this was finished. .

Disclaimer: Parts of Ch. 24 (Sectumsempra) in HPatHBP were used in this one-shot. JKR gets all the credit for creating the characters and universe first.

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Hermione shuffled along on her way to return her bag to her dorm before dinner. Professor Vector had eased her fears over the state of her Arithmancy essay. Despite her worry over editing the last paragraphs while under the effects of her newest obsession- the sleeping potions at the bottom of her trunk, she had earned another O.

A fact that would have normally made her smile for the rest of the evening, did nothing to bolster her dejected spirits. She was still startlingly numb. A telling indicator of just how far she had fallen in such a short time… When had she turned into a weak witch who couldn't function without a wizard at her side?

Thankfully, her new retrospective disposition was ignored by her fellow Gryffindors in favor of the coming Quidditch match. Even Ginny's hovering had to be put to an end as she and the rest of the team dedicated every spare second to preparing. If they won it would tip the scales in Gryffindor's favor to win the House Cup…

As if she had the energy to give a fat hippogriff's behind about something as juvenile as the freaking House Cup anymore.

Her world had been shattered…

No matter how hard she tried to find the light there was nothing left for her but the ever-expanding pain that radiated from her middle… Her scar had become irritated in the days since that night. Blistered and inflamed, the red flesh was a physical representation of the deadly infection his abandonment had incubated inside of her mind.

A deserved punishment. She had done nothing to aid in the healing.

Muffled shouts interrupted her morbid thoughts as she turned a corner near the bathrooms by Gryffindor Tower. Loud bangs quickly followed and then the distinctive shrieks of Moaning Myrtle were added to the cacophony. Hermione rushed forward to the door the awful sounds emanated from and was pushed to race faster when the ghost's wails became decipherable. "MURDER! MURDER IN THE BATHROOM! MURDER!"

She faltered for a second when she opened the wooden barrier and took in the amount of devastation brought about in such a short time. Water poured from the plumping that had been hit by ricocheting curses. Rubble was strewn in the growing puddles that were streaked with a concerning red color. Hesitation over who or what was to blame slowed her natural instinct to help…

The sound of Harry's cries of denial banished all uncertainty from her mind. She carefully shifted through the wreckage as quietly as she could, her wand raised directly in front of her, intent on helping the wizard with whatever horrific situation he had found himself in.

As soon as she crossed over the threshold her mind went blank. Unable to comprehend the scene she walked into. Harry was on his knees. His bloodied hands fluttered uselessly in the air over the body that was sprawled out before him.

Moaning Myrtle's wails of grief faded as she took another step to identify the person…

No…

No…

NO!

Draco lay on his back in the middle of the debris. Paler than she had ever seen him, bright crimson blood poured from numerous deep lashes on his chest, waist, and, to a lesser extent, face. Pitiful whimpers of agony emanated from the wounded boy every time he sucked in a breath between his clenched teeth.

"Draco… Draco? Draco?!" Hermione forgot the very pertinent reason to pretend that she hated him. In fact, she forgot all logic and threw herself down at his side, shoving Harry away in the process. "Tell me what happened."

"Hermione!?"

"Her…mi…one?"

Her name was gasped by both of the wizards. One in stunned shock… The other in desperation. His gray eyes opened and searched for her.

"I'm right here, Draco." She whispered softly, brushing a few strands of blood-stained hairs from his forehead. "You are going to be okay, I promise."

He was finally able to focus and when he found her in the flog of pain the corners of his lips lifted into a weak smile, "I… I… I'm… I'm... s…"

Hermione shushed his attempted apology. Worried at the amount of effort the meager attempt took from him, she blinked back the tears that threatened to fall and smiled back. "I'm going to get you help. Hold on…"

"What the actual fuck is happening?" Harry mumbled, frozen in the splayed heap her hasty approach had left him in.

She ignored him for a moment and snapped at the still screeching ghost that hovered near the ceiling, "Stop it right now, Myrtle! Go do something useful and get Pomfrey!"

"There is no need…" Snape's drawn-out drawl interrupted the furious instruction from right behind her.

Startled by his sudden emergence from the shadows, Hermione jerked away and scrambled next to Harry. She watched as the livid professor knelt at the maimed wizard's side, raised his wand, and traced it over the gaping lacerations Harry had caused. He muttered an unidentifiable incantation and the flow of dark maroon ichor slowed.

After Snape wiped the blood from the damage done to the beautiful face she knew better than her own, he repeated the spell two more times. Knitting the deep cuts together with each rhythmic song-like utterance. Once satisfied with his work, he pocketed his wand and pulled a barely conscious Draco into a standing position. "You need the hospital wing. There may be scarring, but if you take dittany we might avoid even that… Come…"

Regardless of her disdain for any kind of proximity to the wizard who had assaulted her, Hermione struggled to her feet and slipped in the large pool of freezing cold water mixed with her ex-lover's blood. She tucked herself against Draco's side and helped to support him as their professor maneuvered his weakened form to the doorway.

"I'm… I'm sorry." He muttered in her ear, his head laid limply on his chest as he stumbled along the path he was directed in.

Snape glanced at them out of the corner of his eye with a look of utmost loathing. Once the door was open and he had taken most of the weight of the boy back onto his shoulders, he turned back to the terrified wizard who was still sitting in the middle of the ruins. "And you, Potter… You will wait here with Granger for me to return."

"Sir…"

Her assertion to stay with Draco was immediately impeded by Snape's angry repetition of his order, "I said that you both will wait right here for me to return. Is that clear, Miss Granger?"

She openly glared at the man for a few seconds before nodding. Without warning she stepped away and let the entire weight of the burden fall onto his shoulders before taking Draco's face into her hands so he was forced to look her in the eye. "You are going to be okay. I will come to the hospital wing as soon as I am able."

No longer afraid of the anger that was surely to rain down from all directions, not when she had been faced with a world where he wasn't breathing, she pressed her lips to his in a quick kiss that he didn't have the energy to reciprocate and then fully retreated from the pair of wizards. Hermione's gaze stayed on the slick stone floor as they left and the door slammed shut.

For quite a while she and Harry waited in silence. Each lost in their thoughts on the unexpected and life-changing events of the evening. As the minutes ticked on, her rage at the person she had considered the epitome of virtue continued to grow until she couldn't contain it a moment longer, "How could you do this?"

"How could I do this? How could I do this? What about you? Are we really going to pretend that I didn't just watch you willingly kiss Malfoy of all people?!"

"No, we are not. But I want answers, Harry Potter! What were you thinking? How could you risk expulsion like this? How could you hurt someone I love like that?"

A bolt of metaphorical lightning struck at the verbal admission of her feelings for his nemesis. "You… love… Malfoy?"

"Were you struck dumb? I said what I said…. Tell me what happened so that I can understand and not hex you in ways the Healers at Mungo's have no hope of reversing." Hermione felt the static of her magic on her skin as she gave voice to the warning that had been on the tip of her tongue since she entered the bathroom.

"Have you gone mad? I am not telling you anything!" Harry snarled in retaliation.

"Fine…. He will tell me later and I will have no reason to believe whatever lame excuses you have for such atrocious behavior." She said as she walked over and picked up Draco's wand from where it had been dropped by its owner.

"Yeah… You do that! Go and listen to a Death Eater."

Her fingers instinctively wrapped around the smooth base of the unfamiliar wood in her hand and she pointed the tip at the ground. "Choose your next words very carefully…"

"Or what?!" The baffled wizard shouted. "I will become bunkmates with Lockhart because I defended myself against an Unforgivable? I made a fucking mistake. I didn't know that was going to happen… But you… You've been going behind my back to be with Malfoy of all people, Hermione. How long? Merlin… How much have you told him?"

Her face contorted with a malicious sneer, mirroring the wrath inside. "Near half a year and nothing that you need to lose sleep over."

Harry's responding laugh made chills run up her spine. There was no humor to be found in it. Pain from her betrayal, years of hatred for his enemy, and fear of the many unknowns in the coming future deadened the peal until it was an empty echo of hysterical confusion. "And I just take your word for it?"

"What other alternative do you have?"

Something broke inside the wizard who stood a few feet away from her. A darkness she had never seen from him, not even after Sirius' death, entered his jade-green eyes as he glared at her. "I could always make my way down to the hospital wing later tonight and get the answers I want…"

Without thinking the ramifications of her actions through, Hermione lifted the wand that wasn't hers and pointed it towards her friend's face. "I told you to choose your words carefully…"

Her threat caused him to raise his own wand. Ready to defend himself if it came down to it. "Come on then… I'm sure Dumbledore will forgive you for taking out The Boy Who Lived, furthering Voldemort's reign."

"You would be surprised what Dumbledore would forgive me for." She hissed, struggling to control the funneling of her magic into the ebony-varnished wood on the base of Draco's wand. "He wants to save him, just as much as I do."

"LIAR!" Harry's scream of denial drowned out the background noise of Moaning Myrtle's continued agonized wails and the spray of water against stone.

A smirk crossed her lips as she goaded the reaction she had hoped for… Any reason to attack... Before she could respond to the nonverbal spell that was cast with a flick of his wrist, the bright white sparks were stopped in midair by a Protego charm that she hadn't cast.

"As heartwarming as it is to see Hogwarts' Golden Trio turn into a Duo, I must intervene," Snape pronounced from the entrance to the bathroom.

Both Harry and Hermione lowered their intended weapons and turned to the unwelcome intruder, who swiftly dismissed the howling grief-stricken ghost that disappeared into the plumbing of a toilet. After which he closed the door behind him and strolled leisurely into the destroyed accommodations, sneering at the ruination of their years-long friendship. His cold calculating scrutiny flicked between the two of them, eventually settling on her, he demanded some clarification, "Enlighten me, Miss Granger. What preposterous excuses do you possibly have for the concerning circumstances I happened upon tonight?"

"You will have to ask him… I was going to drop off my bag before dinner and heard them fighting." Hermione told the truth and looked the formidable wizard in the eye for the first time since her detention. There was no reason to be afraid. The worst had already taken place. Everyone, on either side, would know by morning. What more damage could he honestly do?

Snape didn't bother to verify, her display of uncharacteristic bravado was enough to convince him. "And instead of alerting a teacher you decided, like the Gryffindor you are, to rush in and act the hero?"

She shrugged and pocketed Draco's wand next to hers in the confines of her blood-soaked sweater, "Yes, that is exactly what I did."

Harry snorted at the accidental sarcasm her honesty led to. Aware he had made a grave mistake in calling notice to himself, he quickly glanced around at the damage. All he needed to do was whistle to complete the caricature of a young child caught eavesdropping.

"Very well, I will find out the precise details of what took place from your outlook once I am done here, Miss Granger." The threatening dismissal was given with a wave of Snape's hand and he pivoted in place. His inky black eyes darkened further as he watched the true subject of his fury evade looking in his direction. "Do make sure to grab your bag before you head to the infirmary…"

"Yes, sir."

There was a part of her that wished to argue. For Harry's sake. No matter how badly she wanted to hex the boy herself, the look hurled his way by their professor was diabolical but she knew better. So, Hermione took her leave and did as she was told. She gathered her bag and the random contents that had spilled out in her haste before heading to check in on Draco.

Hopefully, he would be happy to see her…

Considering how their lives were about to implode…