We were halfway out of the Chamber when we heard Lord Voldemort's voice boom all around us as though he had fitted up a tannoy system especially for the occasion.

"He's mad if he thinks anyone's going to hand over Harry," Ron scoffed a little too self assuredly, reaching down to help me climb back out into the girls' bathroom.

"I don't know," I breathed, still trembling from the shock of what happened in the Chamber. "I doubt there are many Slytherins who would be happy to risk their lives to protect him."

I thought about Draco, and wondered where he was and what he thought about Voldemort's speech. I suddenly longed to find him, to know that he was safe. He would be a target just as much as me now, having run from the Death Eaters.

Ron looked at me, his expression funny. Feeling uncomfortable, I hugged myself, trying to stop myself from visibly shivering.

"Look, 'mione," he murmured, his face going pink, "about what happened down there-"

"You don't have to explain," I said at once, trying desperately to pull myself together. "I know it was the Horcrux, I know you wouldn't do that to me. Now, please, let's go and find Harry and never speak of this again."

He opened his mouth to respond, but then closed it again, a sort of sadness flickering in his eyes.

"Yeah, you're right, 'mione," he murmured dully, looking down at his feet. "Let's go and find Harry and tell him there's a light at the end of all this shit, and hopefully not the dead kind."

So, off we went again, quickly making our way through the castle corridors which were beginning to fill with terrified students, the younger ones being ushered towards the seventh floor to make their escape, and others preparing for battle.

"I say we go back to the Room of Requirement," Ron suggested when we had no luck in finding him amongst the crowds in the Great Hall. "Chances are he's still hiding underneath the cloak."

I glanced longingly towards the stairway leading down to the dungeons, wondering if Draco was still down there.

"Come on, 'mione," Ron said, tugging at my arm, trying to coax me along, "Malfoy'll be fine. It's Harry who needs us right now."

He was right, of course. So, without further ado, I raced alongside Ron as we made our way straight towards the Room of Requirement, praying Harry would have the answers to where the next Horcrux could be found.

*****

The castle was in chaos, with students running around him, barely noticing he was there.

He knew what he must do, yet he couldn't do it alone. His eyes scanned the screaming students, all racing for their lives. And then he spotted them - not that it was hard too - their enormous frames making them stick out like sore thumbs.

Grabbing them from behind, he pulled them back, both of them looking around with gormless expressions on their fat faces, wondering what on earth was going on.

"Malfoy?" Goyle spluttered. "What d'you think yer-"

"Shut up and listen to me, you bumbling idiots," Draco sneered, slipping back into his old self with ease. "I've got a job for you both. Do it right and we will be rewarded greatly."

Crabbe's face greedily lit up just as Draco knew it would.

"But didn' you run off with tha' Mudblood?" Goyle snarled, his beady eyes narrowing distrustfully. "As if the Dark Lord wants anything ter do with a traitor-"

"I was working undercover, you moron," Draco answered without a beat. "Who do you think brought Potter here in the first place?"

They both looked unsure, and Draco realised he was going to have his work cut out for him to prove he was back on their side.

"Look, come on. I'm pretty certain I know where Potter's gone. We'll take him to the Dark Lord together and each claim our reward." Or hopefully his mercy at least, Draco thought with a sick feeling in his stomach.

In the end, to his relief, Crabbe and Goyle agreed, and it was almost like old times again as they hurried through the castle, Draco Malfoy and his two goons, the trio not to be messed with.

******

"And you're quite sure it's in here?" I asked dubiously as my eyes trailed over the many towers of tottering junk.

"Pretty sure." Harry shrugged.

"It could take us forever!" Ron spluttered as I tried to Accio it, but with no results.

"I wouldn't bother, Hermione," Harry muttered. "You cannot simply Accio a Horcrux. You should know that by now."

"Well I'm not going to not try," I retorted, already feeling flustered by the hunt ahead of us. It'd been a long day, and now it was looking as though it was going to be a long night, too.

On top of that, I was worried about where Draco had gotten to. Perhaps he'd simply gone back to his old room for a nap? He had looked exhausted, after all.

But then could one take a nap knowing that a mad man was standing outside the school gates, threatening to storm the castle and kill everyone inside it?

Probably not.

Sighing heavily, we got to work looking for this tiara that Harry was certain contained another part of Voldemort's sick bastard soul.

It was around twenty minutes of searching down aisles and aisles of mindless crap when I heard the commotion coming from afar. Voices... angry voices.

"Harry? Ron?"

No answer.

I strained my ears so that I could try and detect where it was coming from, moving quickly amongst the towers of furniture and shelves of dusty old school equipment.

And then a loud blast echoed loudly up ahead and I screamed as I watched a wall of unidentifiable junk totter then crumble.

I clamped my mouth shut with my hand and told myself to pull it together. Someone else was here and we were clearly in danger.

More muffled yells and angry voices. I crept closer holding my breath as I tried to make out what was being said.

"Who cares what you think? I don't take your orders no more, Draco. You an' and your dad are finished."

Draco? My heart raced. He was here?

"Harry?" Came Ron's shout from the other side of the collapsed wall. "What's going on?"

"Harry?" The first voice again. I was pretty sure it sounded like Crabbe or Goyle. "What's going- no, Potter! Crucio!"

I gasped silently as another loud set of bangs reverberated in the air. Holding my wand aloft, I crept closer, trying to steady my shaking arm.

I could see through a gap in the shelving now, see Draco stood pointing his wand at Harry with Crabbe and Goyle flanking him either side. He looked so angry, and I couldn't understand what he was doing. Why was he with them?

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

"So? I'm not killing him, am I?" Crabbe yelled, "but if I can, I will, the Dark Lord wants him dead anyway, what's the diff-?"

I shot a Stunning spell right at him as I jumped around the corner. But to my horror, Draco pulled him out of the way, saving him and glaring at me.

All I could do was stare bewilderedly back at him, his grey eyes steely and cold, all the love... gone.

"It's that Mudblood!" Crabbe roared, his face contorted with rage. "Avada Kedavra!"

I dove behind a nearby table for cover, narrowly missing the jet of green light. Spells started blasting all over the place as Harry jumped in to fight.

"Don't kill them! DON'T KILL THEM!" Draco bellowed at his two companions, his face drained of all colour as he desperately tried to pull their arms down.

Now he was defending us?

Harry managed to Disarm Goyle and Ron jumped into view, shooting the Cruciatus Curse at Crabbe, which narrowly missed.

"I'm going to fucking kill you, you prick!" Ron roared, charging right at Crabbe instead. "You dare try and hurt Hermione again!"

Looking genuinely scared, Crabbe ran off out of sight as Ron raced after him yelling 'Crucio' over and over, leaving me and Harry standing around with Draco and a wandless Goyle.

"Come on, Malfoy," Goyle hissed, glaring pointedly at the wand still in Draco's hand. "Don't be a prat. Get 'im!"

"Draco?" I breathed shakily, moving out from behind the table. "What's going on?"

"He's double-crossed us," Harry snarled, his own wand trained carefully on Draco. "He's brought them here to hand me in to their boss."

"He wouldn't," I said, my heart racing in my chest. "Draco, tell him, you're on our side... aren't you?"

Draco said nothing, a pink tinge rising to his cheeks as he kept his wand aimed at Harry, refusing to look at me.

"Face it, Mudblood," Goyle snarled, "you've been had. There ain't no place for filthy little hoes like-"

He was cut off by Draco's fist landing squarely in his jaw, causing him to go down like a sack of spuds.

And to add to all the confusion, Ron came charging back into view with Crabbe hot on his heels, both of whom look petrified.

"RUN!" Ron screamed at the top of his lungs. "Crabbe's set the bloody place on fire!"

And sure enough, from behind them, a great big ball of flames was erupting, swallowing everything in sight.

"The diadem!" Harry yelled, quickly turning to toss items aside in his bid to find it. "I had it before the cunts blasted it away from my reach!"

I moved over to help him, but something caught my wrist, halting me in my tracks. I turned to see Draco, his fingers gripping me tightly and face alight with fear.

"What are you doing?" He hissed. "You need to get out of here."

I fiercely yanked my wrist free, resisting the urge to slap him. "I'm not leaving until I help Harry."

My voice was cold, and I hoped my expression matched. I didn't know what had gotten into him, but I did know he had led Crabbe and Goyle to us, endangering us all.

He hesitated, as though he wanted to argue further. But smoke quickly begun to engulf us and the heat had become unbearable, so without another word, I ran back to Harry's side to resume the desperate search for the diadem.

When I looked back, Draco and the unconscious Goyle were gone.

I told myself that I didn't care, and that I was pretty sure the stinging in my eyes and the ache in my chest was caused by the smoke and nothing else.

"It's no use, Harry!" Ron roared, as he too scrabbled through all of the junk. "We're becoming surrounded - look!"

And sure enough, he was right. I looked up to see a ring of fire had formed around us. We were trapped.

"What can we do?" I screamed over the deafening roars of the fire. "What can we do?"

"Here!"

Harry had seized a pair of heavy-looking broomsticks from the nearest pile of junk and threw one to Ron, who immediately ushered me on behind him. I gripped onto his waist tight and closed my eyes as he kicked off. Merlin, how I hated flying, but I hated the idea of being burned alive more.

Harry rose up with us, leaving the flames below. However, the heat and smoke were becoming unbearable, and we needed to get out, fast.

"I can't see them anywhere!" Harry roared, and my heart pounded like crazy, the thought of Draco being trapped somewhere down there making me feel nauseous.

"Forget about them!" Ron roared back. "We need to save ourselves!"

"Malfoy saved us at the Manor, we owe him to at least-"

"It's his fault we're in this mess in the first place!" Ron interrupted Harry. "Now please, let's go!"

A thin, piteous human scream could be heard from amidst the terrible commotion below, making my blood run cold. There was no question that was someone being burned alive.

"Please, Ron," I panicked. "We need to find them. We can't let him die like this."

"It's- too- dangerous-!" Ron yelled, but Harry had already wheeled in the air, heading straight in the direction of the scream.

"IF WE DIE FOR THEM, I'LL KILL YOU, HARRY!" Ron roared as he too wheeled us around and began to race after him.

And then we saw them: Draco with his arms around the unconscious Goyle, the pair of them perched on a fragile tower of charred desks, and ahead of us, Harry dived.

The look of relief on Draco's face as we zoomed towards them matched my own feeling. He immediately heaved Goyle's heavy frame onto the back of Harry's broomstick, saving him first.

Harry flew off at once, leaving Ron and I to pick up Draco. I reached out my hand which he took at once, clambering onto the broom behind me, sandwiching me between my two love rivals.

"C-Crabbe-" he choked, clinging his arms tightly around my middle, "he- he fell. He didn't make it."

"Shame." Ron muttered unsympathetically as he violently wheeled the broom back around, nearly tossing us off. "Big loss there."

I said nothing, just silently willed Ron to get us out of there, not feeling in the least bit safe until we were free from this terrifying situation, and trying not to replay Crabbe's final scream in my mind.

Harry appeared to fly off somewhere, but we didn't question it, just continued to keep our heads down as Ron dived us towards the door. I could feel Draco's heart thudding furiously behind me as he held onto me tighter. I found it strangely reassuring.

And then we had burst into the corridor, the clean air filling our lungs in an instant as we rolled off the broomstick. Draco didn't yield his hold on me, clutching me close as we both gasped and retched on the corridor floor, Ron laying face down next to us, coughing up his lungs like a heavy smoker.

Before we could compose ourselves, Harry came bursting through the door, crashing into the wall opposite, an unconscious Goyle still miraculously on the broomstick behind him.

Draco pulled me out of the way as they both fell to the floor, narrowly avoiding being squashed by Goyle.

"D-Draco," I choked, barely able to speak as I pulled out of his embrace, sitting back to look up at him. "What- what happened in there?"

"He double-crossed us," Ron said darkly, lifting his blackened face off the floor to narrow his blood shot eyes at Draco. "Git."

Draco ignored him, turning his own blackened face away from me. "I saw you and him... in the Chamber. I saw you together."

I blinked in disbelief. "You were there?!"

"Oh you fucking moron, Malfoy," Ron scoffed, shaking his head. "And I thought you were supposed to be smart?"

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, looking between me and Ron. "You were kissing, I saw you. I saw you kissing him back."

"Yeah, and if you had stuck around for even a second longer you would have seen her bite my tongue to get me off her. We were destroying a Horcrux! Those things are mind fuckers!"

"Speaking of," Harry drawled, getting to his feet and pulling a tiara off his arm. "Any volunteers to rid this one?"

But before he'd even finished the sentence, the diadem violently vibrated and broke into tiny little fragments in his hand.

"It must have been Fiendfyre!" I whispered, staring wide eyed at the broken pieces.

"Sorry?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Fiendfyre - cursed fire - it's one of the substances that destroy Horcruxes, but I would never, ever have dared use it, it's so dangerous. How did Crabbe know how to-?"

"Must've learned it from the Carrows," Harry said grimly.

"Shame." Ron shrugged, slowly getting to his feet and brushing soot of his clothes. "If he hadn't tried to kill us all, I'd be quite sorry he was dead."

At that point the castle shook around us, reminding us we were still in the middle of a battle.

A hand grabbed mine, and I looked up to see Draco staring at me sorrowfully. "Shit, Hermione, I'm sorry. I really thought you and Weasley were-"

I ripped my hand violently out of his. "All of that in there was because you thought I was kissing someone else?! Really?! WE COULD HAVE DIED! CRABBE DID!"

I was shaking, my whole body trembling in hurt and anger. We were in the middle of a war and Draco was letting petty jealousies scupper our chances of winning. What was wrong with him?

"Hermione, please," he implored, reaching back out for my hand, "I never meant for you to get hurt. I was just trying to find a way back to my mother."

I opened my mouth to respond, but I didn't get very far due to the air exploding around us.

Merlin, this was a long day.

******