I swallowed, my hand still hovering over the diadem as Draco's grey eyes fixed upon mine, his expression steely and cold. He too, much to my dismay, had a wand raised in my direction.

"Draco," I whispered, my voice shaky and hoarse. "Please don't do this-"

"We're gonna be rewarded," Crabbe jumped in; his face ugly and gleeful. He looked at me almost greedily; licking his fat, slimy lips. "We 'ung back, Potter. We decided not to go. Decided to bring you to 'im."

My heart thudded violently against my ribs as my eyes flicked back to Draco's, trying desperately to search for something resembling warmth in his features. But he remained impassive and emotionless, his wand still pointed determinedly at me. If he was putting on a show, he was doing a remarkable job.

"How did you know I was in here?" I asked, not taking my eyes off him, trying to stall for time as I attempted to calculate my next move.

"We was hiding in the corridor outside," grunted Goyle. "We can do Diss-lusion Charms now! And then, you turned up right in front of us and said you was looking for a die-dum! What's a die-dum?"

I closed my eyes, resisting the urge to tell him to shut the fuck up.

"Etta?" Ron's voice echoed suddenly from the other side of the wall to my right. "Are you talking to someone?"

With a whip-like movement, Crabbe pointed his wand at the fifty-foot mountain of crap and shouted, "Descendo!"

To my horror, the wall began to totter, then crumbled into the aisle next door where Ron stood.

"Ron!" I bellowed, as I heard Hermione screaming from somewhere I couldn't see. I grabbed my wand, pointing it at the falling towers, cried, "Finite!" and steadied it.

But as I had turned my back, it had seemed that Crabbe had been ready to cause more havoc.

"No!" Draco shouted, and as I whipped around, I could see him restraining Crabbe's arm. "If you wreck the room, you might bury this diadem thing!"

His eyes briefly met mine and I was relieved to see the steeliness had gone, replaced instead, though, by sheer panic. Whatever his plan had been, it was clearly going wrong.

"What's that matter?" Crabbe said, tugging himself free. "It's Potter the Dark Lord wants, who cares about a die-dum?"

"Potter came in here to get it," Draco said impatiently, as if he was talking to a three-year-old, "so that must mean-"

"′Must mean?'" Crabbe looked at Draco in disgust. "Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Malfoy. You an' your dad are finished."

"Etta?" Ron shouted again, from the other side of the junk wall. "What's going on?"

"Etta?" Crabbe mimicked. "What's going- no, Potter! Crucio!"

I had lunged for the tiara when that bastard shot a curse at me. Luckily, it had missed me, but the flipping diadem flew into the air and then dropped out of sight amongst a mass of crap. Ugh, fucking Crabbe.

"STOP!" Draco shouted at Crabbe, his voice echoing through the enormous room. "The Dark Lord wants her alive-"

"So? I'm not killing her, am I?" Crabbe yelled, throwing off Draco's restraining arm once again, "but if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants her dead anyway, what's the diff-"

He was cut off as a Stunning Spell grazed his left ear. Hermione appeared round the corner, breathless and sweaty as she attempted to fire another jinx.

"Fucking Mudblood!" he growled, his eyes bulging in fury as he raised his wand. "Avada Kedavra!"

Hermione dived aside from Crabbe's green light just in time. Utterly fuming, I threw a Stunning Spell at him, but he lurched out of the way, and then he turned on me, lifting his wand, pure hatred in his beady eyes.

"Avada-"

"Don't kill her! DON'T KILL HER!" Draco yelled, violently grabbing Crabbe's arm again.

But Crabbe no longer cared what Draco thought. Red and green jets of light flew between us, as Crabbe, Goyle, Ron, Hermione and myself battled; thoughts of the diadem gone from my mind.

I was shaking in fury. He may have been trying to stop Crabbe from killing me, but why the fuck would Draco lead them to me in the first place?!

"Like it hot, scum?" Crabbe roared, waving his wand wildly around his head, a crazed look in his eye.

Oh...shit.

There was fire. A LOT of fire. And nothing any of us tried could extinguish it. Realising I needed to get the diadem, and fast, I turned back towards the mountain of junk, desperately searching whilst the flames literally multiplied around us.

A hand grabbed at my back trying to pull me away.

"Etta!" Draco rasped, choking on the smoke, "we need to get out, now!"

"I need to find the fucking diadem!" I snapped, shrugging him off.

"Please, Etta," he begged, grabbing my arm, and forcing me round to look at him, his face already blackened from the smoke. "We're going to die if we don't get out now."

"You should have thought of that before leading those fucking buffoons right to me!" I bellowed, yanking my arm free from his tight grip. "Now either make yourself useful and help me find this fucking diadem or get out!"

He looked around, as though conflicted. His eyes landed on Ron who was hastily tossing junk aside as Hermione stood behind him, shouting different incantations at the building wall of flames, attempting to keep it at bay. Clearly deciding we had this, Draco wheeled on the spot and ran off after Crabbe and Goyle, vanishing from view.

Fucking arsehole.

The smoke was beginning to choke my lungs and the heat pressing against my skin as I tore my nails and cut my hands trying to locate the Horcrux. If it had not been for Draco, I would have already destroyed it by now and on my way to kill a snake.

"We have to get out of here!" Hermione eventually screamed when it was evident that her magic was no good against the fire. "Forget the diadem, Etta! We have to go!"

But as we turned to flee, a thick wall of flames had built around us. We were trapped.

Shit - I was going to die before saving the world and it was all Draco's fault.

"Here!" shouted Ron, and my heart fluttered in relief as he seized two broomsticks from a pile of junk, throwing one to me.

Ron pulled Hermione on to his broom, as I swung my leg over mine and kicked off hard into the air, away from the blazing inferno. I looked down at the ground, desperately trying to see any trace of Draco, but there was nothing but thick black smoke and a carpet of red-hot flames. I had to pray that he had escaped in time because the idea that he was still down there somewhere made me feel dizzy with sickness.

"Etta, let's get out, let's get out!" Ron bellowed behind me.

I turned to fly towards the door, but then I heard a loud, bellowing cry; a cry that, despite the heat, made my blood run ice cold. Draco.

"It's - too - dangerous-!" Ron yelled, but I had already wheeled round in the air, pelting furiously towards the cry.

I didn't care how dangerous it was. Because no matter how much I had felt betrayed or let down by Draco, I wouldn't - couldn't ever leave him to die.

And then I saw him. He had his arms around an unconscious Goyle, the pair of them perched on a fragile tower of charred desks, and I dived. Draco saw me coming, and raised one arm, but even as I grasped it I knew it was no good: Goyle was too heavy and Draco's hand, covered in sweat, slid instantly out of mine.

"IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU, ETTA!" Ron's voice roared behind me. And relief flooded through me as he and Hermione dragged Goyle on to their broom, allowing Draco to clamber instantly up behind me.

"Etta," I heard him sob into my back, as he circled his arms tightly around my waist. Saying nothing, I sped up, following Ron, Hermione and Goyle through the billowing black smoke.

And then I saw it - the diadem, falling from the top of a tower of junk. Quickly swooping down, I caught it around my wrist as it fell through the air. My awesomeness knows no bounds.

"The door, Etta! The door!" Draco bellowed in my ear, pointing to the right of us.

As quick as a flash, I whipped the broom around and, leaning forward, I zoomed us as fast as I could towards the black rectangular patch in the wall.

Moments later, we came crashing into the corridor, coughing, and retching as we both rolled off the broom, with Draco conveniently ending up lying face down on top of me.

He did not attempt to move off me as we both gulped and gasped for breath, but instead rested his forehead down on mine, cupping a hand to my face.

"Etta," he choked, his voice full of awe and disbelief, "you- you came back for me. You saved my life."

I did not say anything at first, just stared up at him, not tearing my eyes away from his. I could feel the furious pounding of his heart matching mine as he waited for me to say something.

"Of course I did." I simply stated.

And then before I could register what was happening, his mouth quite suddenly crashed down on mine, hungrily bruising my lips as he tore them apart with his own.

Completely forgetting everything, I found myself responding almost immediately, the taste of him too fucking good to resist. My fingertips grazed his scalp as my hands clutched his hair, deepening the kiss, getting lost in him as though no one else existed except for us.

"Ahem,"

Draco and I froze, our lips pulling apart as we slowly turned our heads. Ron and Hermione, with mouths gaping open, were both staring down at us.

"Etta..." Hermione breathed, her eyes widening in disbelief. "You and- you and... Malfoy?"

Ron, however, with none of this being exactly news to him, rolled his eyes.

"When Malfoy has finished saying thank you, do you think we can work on destroying the Horcrux?" Ron said pointing to the diadem that still hung on my arm.

Draco scrambled off me as I hastily sat up, trying to act cool and unflustered as I made a big deal of straightening out my very crumpled top, when really, I was trying to hide my blush.

"Blimey," I heard Ron mutter to Hermione, "thank christ Goyle is unconscious. If that's the repayment for saving someone's life, then he can jolly well stay that way."

***

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Kokolisto16 for designing and making my awesome new book cover. Thank you!