⚠ Trigger Warning ⚠
Some violence and gore throughout the chapter. Read at your own discretion. 

She knew it. She knew he'd do something stupid like that. After all, he'd been itching to get his hands on Ron's throat. 

Hermione practically slammed the portrait shut as she let herself out into the corridor and ran to the classroom she'd been in with Ron. Sure enough, she could make out voices as she came closer. Noises that suggested a duel at best.

She pushed open the classroom door. She couldn't believe it. The scene in front of her was appalling. The class was in chaos. Tables and chairs were strewn around. Some were even broken. Draco had a bloody nose and a swollen, blue-black eye that made Hermione think about whether Ron had punched him. But he was still alright. Ron looked worse. She could see that he'd been punched in the jaw too, his lip was streaming with blood, he had cuts all over his arms, and he was limping slightly. Hermione barely registered Draco raising his wand again when she shouted, "STOP!"

Both of them looked startled as they noticed Hermione in the room. She made her way through the broken furniture and stood directly between them. "That's enough! How can you two be so idiotic? We've already discussed what situation we're in, Hogwarts is in danger, and right now we should be planning a strategy together to protect everyone here. We should be working together, do you hear that? And what are you doing? Attempting to murder each other?"

She took a deep breath, then before either of them could say anything, she ordered, breathing heavily, "Ron, leave right now. Go to the Gryffindor Common Room or the Hospital Wing or wherever you like. Just make sure I don't see you again."

"But Hermione-"

"Ron," she said slowly, stressing every word. "The fact that you were being beaten to a pulp doesn't make me forget anything you said to me, neither does it change the fact that I've been wanting to do the same to you. So leave."

Ron threw one last glare towards Draco and limped his way out of the room, clutching his wrist. Perhaps that had been broken too.

Once she could no more hear Ron's heavy footfalls down the corridor, she whirled upon Draco.

"What the hell was that about, Malfoy?"

"Oh, you mean those cuts and stuff?" Draco said, sitting down on a chair that was miraculously unbroken. "That was about what he did to you. And I'd have appreciated it if you hadn't intervened and ruined all the fun."

"Are you off your rails?" Hermione asked incredulously. "Are you even hearing yourself right now? You hurt him, Malfoy. Bad. And instead of feeling the slightest hint of remorse, you're here enjoying what you did to him?"

"Well, it seemed like he enjoyed whatever he did to you," Draco shrugged, trailing his wand over his bruised cheek.

"You keep saying that like you knew what we talked about."

"I have enough of an idea."

"Yeah? What do you know, huh?" Hermione demanded.

"I know that he's forcing himself on you," Draco said angrily and getting up from the chair. "I know that he's tormenting you over every decision you've made that hasn't sat well with him. I know that he's pissed at you for being friendly with me, for trusting me and my friends instead of running to him and begging him to be your knight in shining armor. And I know that he's trying to bully you into being his little girlfriend again and walk into the sunset together despite everything he's done to torture the hell out of you."

"Shut up, Malfoy," Hermione said warningly. "You're in dangerous territory. What you're talking about is between me and Ron. Let me worry about it."

"Why, so you can get yourself traumatized all over again?"

"Despite your firm beliefs, Malfoy, I'm not that weak," Hermione said. "I've survived everything you and your Death Eater friends have put me through over the last three hundred and sixty-five days, so you can get that idea out of your head and quit bothering to save me from the problems I have."

Hermione barely registered the hurt on Draco's face when she walked angrily out of the room and slammed the classroom door behind her.

***

Hermione went to bed early that night, not knowing what else to do or who to spend the time with. Her 'encounters' with Ron had alienated her from Harry and Ginny because part of her knew that they could stop him if they wanted to, and yet here was Ron, shouting accusations at her. Though she didn't admit it to Draco, Ron had said exactly what he'd had told her. He'd first tried to get her to 'love' her again, and when she'd refused point-blank, he'd yelled at her, saying that it was unacceptable that she'd befriended Malfoy. He'd even gone to the lengths of calling her 'Malfoy's little slut'. At this, she'd thrown as many jinxes at him as she could before he fell, then had walked out of the classroom without another glance.

 What she couldn't understand was how Ron could even think that even for a second. Hadn't she been the one who'd stood with him through everything? Hadn't she once been his best friend? Hadn't they loved each other? Kissed each other? Told each other that they'd always be together? Or was that all pretend too?

Hermione rolled over in her bed, not able to sleep. Her stung with tears, because no matter how much she told herself she didn't care, Ron's words had hurt. They'd cut through her heart even though she didn't show it. And now there was nothing preventing the cut to bleed.

She sat up and looked at the clock. It was almost two in the morning. Had she been thinking for that long? She needed rest, because tomorrow they'd all have to prepare a plan, a strategy to thwart those Death Eaters. 

She'd barely lain down a minute before the door of her room burst open. It was Harry.

"Professor Flitwick just spotted five Death Eaters outside the Room of Requirement, Hermione," he said, panting slightly.

"What?" Hermione stood up, shocked. "But we weren't expecting an attack so soon! It's not even been one full day since they attacked the Ministry!"

"I know, that's why we need all hands on deck," Harry replied. "Ron, Ginny, and all the Professors are there. Come quick, I'll get Malfoy and he can get his buddies."

"Sure," Hermione said, grabbing her wand from the bedstead and buttoning a coat on. "I'll be with the others."

She quickly went out and climbed down the stairs, then opened the portrait door and let herself out into the chilly corridors. 

The Head Common Room was on the same floor as the Room of Requirement, but diametrically opposite to it. Hermione sprinted along, keeping watch for escaped Death Eaters. She put the pieces together in her mind as she approached. 

If the Death Eaters were seen outside the Room of Requirement, that could only mean they had entered through Hogsmeade - through Aberforth's store, the same route which she had taken last year to get into Hogwarts. Of course they'd know about it. Somebody had to go check up on Aberforth immediately. There was no telling what condition he was in. She slapped herself mentally for not remembering it and asking McGonagall to secure that too, even when she'd been in it herself. Of course, Harry and Ron had been there with her, but she'd learned to not depend on anyone else for these tasks, certainly not them.

It all made sense. The Vanishing Cabinet had gone, making Aberforth's store the only path into Hogwarts of which the Death Eaters knew about, seeing as it had caused them so much trouble last year. What they didn't know, however, was that that corridor and the surrounding areas were under construction and hence there was always somebody in the corridor to keep the debris from falling. They must've walked out of the Room of Requirement right into Professor Flitwick, who set off the message.

She could see flashes of light and the noises of a struggle as she approached nearer. When she turned around the bend, all she saw was a fight that was headed towards chaos. There were the five Death Eaters, Avery, Mulciber, Dolohov, Rookwood, and Lucius Malfoy, the five faces she'd come to recognize instantly. On their side, there were only Ron and Ginny and two more Professors, Flitwick and Bescherming. They were holding up, but the convicts were firing the Unforgivables and Dark spells, and Hermione knew she had to get right to it. She instantly took on Dolohov, trying to drive him back into the Room of Requirement, the gate of which was still open.

"Greetings, Mudblood," Dolohov rasped, firing a curse at her. "Miss me?"

"I'm sorry for disappointing you, Dolohov, but nobody's remembered you here at all," Hermione replied, blocking the spell. 

"That's too bad," he said, grinning evilly. "I've missed my old school, see? I wanted to pay a visit. I was the first to stand up when they called for volunteers for this mission."

"When who called for volunteers, exactly?" Hermione was shooting spell after spell at him, talking to distract him, or better, extract some information out of him. She was hoping he'd be too busy trying to kill her to notice what he was blabbing.

"Oh, I know you've all guessed it," he said. "I know we've become a little predictable recently. Azkaban messed up our heads."

"Yeah, well, that's true." Hermione dodged a Killing Curse, then levitated and pelted some large rocks from nearby. "How'd you even escape? I heard the Ministry loved you in prison clothes."

"Never mind that," he said, dodging the boulders. "I was hoping you could answer a question of mine. Answer correctly, and this can all end. Where is the Resurrection Stone?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," she said. "Shouldn't you have announced the purpose of your visit at the very outset?" She found it strange that they were having a casual conversation while firing off hundreds of offensive spells at each other, directed to either maim or kill.

"Oh, we did. Your friends tried us the wrong way," he said. Hermione noticed her nose was bleeding. She didn't even notice it happen. "So, we found another way to get our message across."

Hermione risked as quick a jerk of her head as possible, just to check if Dolohov was bluffing. But no, he was not. Professor Slughorn lay unconscious on the floor a few feet to her right, a large gash on his chest, blood flowing from the back of his head. 

***

A/N: Important notice! This is time for readers' vote. I'm conducting it early so I can plan the rest of the story and how it proceeds.

Hermione can spend her Christmas at four places: Malfoy Manor, The Burrow, Hogwarts, and her parents' home in Muggle England. Your votes continue the story. So, what's it gonna be?

Vote here ---->