Draco

All through the day, I see Granger trying to catch my eye. I walk in to Arithmancy, and inhale sharply when I see her eyes. When I went to sleep last night, I expected her to be angry the next day; but all I see in her chocolatey orbs is a gentle understanding. 

I slump into the chair next to her, avoiding her gaze. 

"Draco," she whispers softly. 

I ignore her, pretending to pay attention to whatever the hell Vector is teaching. 

"Draco," she murmurs again. 

I whip my head around, trying to muster up a cold glare. It must not have worked, because when she sees my expression, she smiles triumphantly. I frown, and turn away. 

"Draco," she says loudly. 

Heads turn towards us. 

"Is there a problem, you two?" Vector snaps, looking at us. 

"No Professor, not at all," Granger says quickly. 

I snort, and grudgingly start to take some notes. Vector drones on, and I lean back in my chair. A soft hand covers mine. I look down at the desk, and I see Granger's fingers resting on top of mine. I quickly pull my hand away from her. Merlin, this girl.

"What do you want?" I hiss. 

"I know your secret," she whispers. 

I tense, but stay quiet. How could she possibly know when I haven't told her yet?

"You're missing your dad," she says quietly. "You feel guilty about being with me because you know he wouldn't approve."

"Granger, no, that's not what-"

"Shut up Draco," she mutters. "We can work it out!"

I let out a bitter laugh. If only it was that easy. 

"Together," she says softly, entwining her hand with mine, and squeezing slightly. 

I want to look at her, and tell her that she's right. That this can be fixed. I want to squeeze her hand back. I want to kiss her until we can't breathe. 

"No," I say coldly. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

She looks at me, the hurt in her eyes making me squirm with guilt. 

"I don't want to be together Granger. Just leave me alone," I hiss. 

"Draco, I don't understand..."

"I don't expect you to," I spit. 

She scans my face, looking for any signs that I'm just playing a horrible joke on her. When she realizes I'm not, her features harden. 

"Fine," she growls. "I don't ever want to talk to you again."

My heart twists, but I keep my icy exterior. 

"Sounds fine by me," I say coldly. 

She glares at me, and then raises her hand. 

"Professor Vector?" she asks angrily. 

"Yes?"

"I don't want to sit by Draco, er, I mean Malfoy. I don't want to sit next to Malfoy anymore."

"Ms. Granger, it's nearly the end of the term," Vector explains in irritation. "I'm sure you can adjust for a handful of days."

Granger huffs, and crosses her arms. Her words ring through my head. Malfoy. She said my name with such disgust.

"Don't call me that," I snap under my breath. 

"It's your name, isn't it?"

The bell rings, not giving me the time to think of a sharp retort to give back to her. She looks back at me with one last fiery glare, and stalks off.  

Hermione

Ginny asks me what's wrong, but I don't have the heart to tell her. Not when she and Harry are so happy now. Ron asks too, but I shake away his concerned questions. The day slowly melts into dusk, and I sit in my dorm room, aware of Ron and Harry talking worriedly about me in the common room.  

After a about half an hour, I hear a muffled yell. Jumping out of my bed, I rush to the staircase. Ron is lying sprawled at the bottom of the stairs- which have now turned into a kind of flat ramp- sporting a sheepish grin. 

"It's been nearly five years, and you still don't learn, do you?" I ask, laughing. 

"I forgot- I thought I could come up."

"I think that's the definition of insanity," I chuckle, bounding down the stairs. 

"Harry's at his lesson with Dumbledore," Ron says. "Jimmy gave the letter, it seems like it was important."

"You mean- do you think they're going out tonight?" I ask in shock. "That Dumbledore's found..."

"We don't know," Ron says, his voice raising excitedly. 

Exactly at that moment, Harry comes bursting through the portrait hole. 

"Harry, what's wrong?" I ask, scanning his ruffled hair and flushed face. 

He tells us about where they're going; their mission to find the Horcrux. He ignores my horrified gasps and Ron's hurried questions. 

"You two do understand what this means, don't you?" Harry asks, giving us both a meaningful look. "Dumbledore won't be in the castle tonight, so Malfoy will definitely plan something."

My heart lurches at Draco's name. I've been trying to forget about him, but- it's impossible, isn't it?  How can I forget about his charming smile, his throaty laughter, his melting silver eyes-

"Earth to Hermione?" Harry says in frustration. "This is no time to be dreaming! I've given some Felix to Ron, share it between yourselves- and Ginny too."

"We don't want it!" I tell him, shocked, as Ron takes it out of Harry's socks, looking awestruck. "You'll need it more than us!"

"Nah, I'll be with Dumbledore," Harry says nonchalantly. "And don't forget! Malfoy is planning something in the Room of Requirement, look after the castle!"

Ron and I shoo him away, and I refuse to take the potion. 

"Don't be stupid," Ron says, holding the tiny bottle out to me. 

I take it, and pretend to take a tiny sip out of it.

"You're not fooling me," Ron says, exasperated. 

Rolling my eyes, I trickle the tiniest drip into my mouth; I can barely detect it. But I can feel it in my body a few minutes after. It feels like I can't do anything wrong, like the world is fighting with me. 

"Right. I think I'm going to go to the Room of Requirement," I tell Ron, grinning. 

"Have you gone insane? We have to find Ginny!" Ron says in frustration. "Harry told us to!"

"You find her. I won't be long!" I say, and rush out of the common room, leaving a very irate Ron behind. 

I race up the staircases to the seventh floor, and stop outside the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Why did I come here again? 

The Felix seems to be rushing through my veins, urging me on. 

You need to find your diary!

Is this Felix that Harry gave us? I'm going insane-

But as I fight with myself, a large door appears in front of me. I wrench it open, and briskly walk through all the clutter in the room. 

Then, I see him. Draco. Whooping, yelling in pure joy. He's standing near the dark brown cabinet, a look of elation on his face. But this happiness isn't the type that makes him look more striking; no, it makes his features almost inhumane. The glee in his eyes makes me take a step back, and my feet brush against a winged catapult, which, in turn, starts to fly around, creating a ruckus. 

"Granger?" he asks.

Is that fear in his voice?

"You said you had something to tell me," I say, the Felix leading me on. 

He sighs, then looks at me in distress. "You'll be angry. So, so angry-"

"Just tell me!"

He takes a deep breath. Then, he starts unfastening the buttons on his sleeve. With a monster-like aggressiveness, he uses his right hand to push the sleeve up. 

I gape in horror at what's there. The Dark Mark. 

It sears, standing out against his pale skin. The twists and turns in it look a lot like how my stomach is feeling now. 

I will the Felix to help me, but all my confidence seems to have disappeared. He looks at his arm with a similar dread.

"You're a Death Eater."

I'm surprised by the way my voice doesn't shake in disbelief. Draco doesn't answer me. He doesn't even seem to want to look at me. The tiny jerk of his head triggers me. 

"You absolute ARSE!" I scream, a sob breaking out of me. "This whole time! And I've been with you like an idiot!" 

He still doesn't reply. 

"This whole time, Harry was right! I was the one that stuck up for you! I convinced myself that you were okay!" I weep. 

"I won't deny it," he says softly. "I am a Death Eater."

"It was you! You cursed Katie Bell and poisoned Ron!"

"I didn't know that would happen," Draco whispers, looking sick. 

"That's what that whole conversation about Tracey Davis and that Hufflepuff was about, wasn't it? You were talking about us!"

He nods. 

"You've been using me to get information!" I shout.

With an unpleasant lurch, I think back to see if I can remember telling him anything about the Order.

"You can say any vile, nasty things about me Granger. Because they all are probably true," Draco says, his voice caught in his throat. "But never say that I was using you. I never once-"

"Then WHY?" I bawl. "WHY did you choose me of all people to torture this year!" 

"It wasn't in my plan!" he growls.

"Then what was your plan?" I shout. 

He looks down, and then tells me everything. It's the most I've ever heard him talk, but I push down the small surge of sympathy I get. He. Is. A. Monster. He doesn't deserve your sympathy!

"You're going to kill Dumbledore?" I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. "YOU DISGUST ME!"

"I don't know," he says quietly. "I've tried to imagine doing it, but every time I actually get there, my head hurts, and my hand starts shaking. I don't think I have it in me."

"That you don't have it in you to be a killer?" I as, my voice dripping with revulsion. "After all of this, there's no doubt that you have it in you!"

He doesn't look at me.

"And that bloody cabinet? I should have known. You kissed me against that cabinet!" I sob. "Oh, what a fool I've been, what an absolute fool!"

"Granger, we can't see each other anymore-"

I let out a bitter laugh. "You think I still want to see you? I don't want anything to do with you Draco Malfoy."

His eyes flash, first with surprise, then hurt, anger, and finally, a sad acceptance. His chest heaves. 

"Your heart looks like it's beating, and mine feels like it's breaking," I tell him quietly. 

"I never meant for this to happen! All I was supposed to do this year was focus on my task," he says in dismay. "And somehow, I ended up teaching you flying, and suddenly were talking, and I didn't hate you! And then one day I just thought about what it would be like to kiss you, and after I did, I couldn't stay away!"

"It's not entirely your fault," I say bleakly. "I had a choice in it too."

"This must end here, now," he says. "We are never to see each other again."

"You blithering idiot, that's not how love works! I can't just forget about you and never look back!"

He stares at me with wide eyes, and I realize my mistake. 

"You just said 'love-'"

"NO, I didn't!" I yell, pulling my wand out of my robes. 

"Fine, you didn't!" he agrees hastily. 

We hear a muffled yell from the cabinet. Draco tenses. 

"Get out of here, now. They're coming."

"Your Death Eater pals?" I ask in spite. 

"JUST GO!" he yells. "They will not spare you!" 

I don't move. 

"Granger, get the fuck out of here. People are going to get injured, and I don't think I could bear it if you got hurt-"

"Quit acting like you care!" I snap, and without looking back, I sprint out of the room, tears streaming down my cheeks. 

When I enter back through the portrait hole, I see Ron and Ginny explaining what's going to happen to the other students. I ignore everyone's looks of surprise, and rush up to my dorm room. 

In a dazed fury, I wrench the ring that Draco - no - Malfoy got me for Christmas off, and shove it into a small, beaded pouch. Then, I take the rose he gave me, stuffing it in as well. Searching through my trunk, I find all the things I've saved from him. The letters, the notes, I crumple them all up, thrusting them in too. 

I look at myself in a small mirror laying on Parvati's bed. My eyes are puffed, and I can see the hurt from the betrayal etched in my face. I wipe my tears, and race down the stairs. 

"Harry was right," I tell them all. "Death Eaters will break into the castle tonight."

"How do you know that-" Ron starts, but I cut him off with a glare. 

"We owe it to Dumbledore and Harry to protect the castle. Ginny, gather the DA," I bark, aware of her scurrying off. 

Ron pulls me aside, with a skeptical look on his face. "Is Malfoy really a Death Eater-"

"Don't say his bloody name in front of me!" I snap, ignoring his shocked look. "The rest of you, get ready with any spells and jinxes you know. We'll fight until the end!"

"So it's true then? He is a Death Eater?" Ginny asks, flanked by Neville and Luna. 

I don't answer her. I wish I could just forget about him.