Chapter 17

"A wise decision Granger," Hermione turned slowly and found herself face to face with Lucius Malfoy. "Many thanks for getting out of his life and here I thought I would have to make him break up with you. But your friends seem to have a nice way to make you feel bad."

"Why don't you just leave? You got what you wanted. This so called mudblood isn't going to bother you future plans for Draco anymore." She spat back at him. Sadness and anger overflowing with to many emotions mad it hard for her to figure out if she should strangle him or just let him go.

"Oh but it is to much fun to cause chaos in your life. Poor, Poor mudblood doesn't have any more friends now does she? Oh so sad. Too bad no one cares for you. I could have said something nice before your death." He said pulling out his wand.

"What?" She was shocked. Even though she left Draco alone and let him become whatever he was descend to be, he was still going to kill her? What was she to say? She could run of course or fight him herself. But doing so didn't seem like such a good idea. "I left him alone isn't that good enough for you?"

"Oh no not even close. You see I could have so much fun watching you die." He raised his wand and sent them to a place she had longed that she would never see.

Harry and Ron sat in silence on opposite sides of Ginny. Hermione's swift leaving left little to wonder why. They had both been hard on her. Maybe what they did wasn't the best action to take. Ron and Harry had both decided on ignoring her would have been the best way. But what good did that do? They pretty much let Hermione to die if she was ever in need of protection. Ginny hadn't said much about the boy's decision. Harry wondered if she had had something else in mind.

"Ginny do you think we were to hard on her?" Harry asked after minutes more of silence.

"I don't know. I don't think what you did was the best way to treat Hermione though." She said softly, running a spoon through some tomato soup.

"I think we should have forgiven Hermione. After all she's right. It wasn't as if she murdered someone. She just loved someone who we didn't like. And that was all. Oh what have we done?" Harry said looking towards the table, lost in thought.

"We should fix this." Ron spoke up unaware that everyone had been waiting for him to say something.

"But what should we do? Hermione's already upset with us enough. And now we have no idea where she is." Harry said looking towards the door and then over to Draco.

"Look at that over there. It's as if nothing ever happened between them. No wonder Hermione left. And to think she broke up with him just so that we wouldn't hate her anymore." Ron said raising his head high above the others to get a glimpse of the Slytherins.

"Maybe he never really cared for her. I for one thought he did. Or maybe it was so scheme to kill her. Drag her somewhere and then just like that she's gone forever. You know how those Malfoy's are. Those Death Eaters." Ginny swished her hand in front of her in disgust.

"Yeah… maybe Ginny's right. Would he really do that though? I never thought Malfoy capable of doing such a thing, but you never know." Ron said toward Ginny.

"Draco… no, but he's father yes." Harry said to both of them. They soon each realized the meaning on Harry's words.

Draco lavished in Pansy's affection. He knew Hermione had left because of it. Pansy some how 'made it all feel better.' But it also was making him feel awful. He saw how Potter and Weasel would look at him and then quickly look away.

"What's the matter Draco?" Pansy cooed.

"Nothing at all." He replied wrapping an arm around her waist. Crabbe and Goyle were chatting among themselves beside Draco. Truth was he couldn't stop thinking of Hermione. He couldn't believe that she just broke up with him. Just like that as if without a second thought. Hermione had acted as if she was about to fall apart and just let her leave. He should have gone after her. But everything was falling apart for him too. Pansy couldn't make him the same way that Hermione did. The Slytherins were driving him nuts. They would just hoot and howler at him just for getting Hermione as they did when he kissed Pansy.

But he wanted Hermione back more than anything. He had no idea where he could find her. Where was he to start? The library…Just as he was about to get up he saw Harry, Ron and Ginny leave the room in a rush. Where are they going? He shrugged Pansy off of him as she tried to pull him back down to his seat. He ran after them, hoping to find out if they knew where Hermione was.

"Oh where could she have gone?" Ginny exclaimed. They had looked everywhere including the library. There was no where else she could be except unless she was in the Forbidden Forest which all three had decided to not go into.

"I don't know…should we go check where we looked before just in case?" Ron said to Ginny and Harry. He kept looking up and down the halls thinking that he would see her.

"This isn't working." Harry said thinking that they would never find her.

Draco stood in the distance listening to their every word. If they had looked for her everywhere, he didn't know where else to look. If they saw him they would more than likely blame him for her disappearance. Though he did have something to do with it. He couldn't deny that.

"Where do you think he took her? He obviously didn't take her somewhere in Hogwarts." Ginny said. She gasped out loud as Draco came out of the shadows.

"What are YOU doing here?" Ron yelled toward Draco, looking at him with pure disgust.

"Who are you taking about?" He asked waiting for them to tell him that they had all thought it was he who had taken Hermione somewhere.

"Your father of course. We all know you and your father were plotting to kill Hermione." Harry said to Draco in an annoying tone.

"Where did you get that?" Draco startled to here that they thought that he would kill Hermione. He would never do such a thing, especially not to Hermione. He loved her too much to ever do something such as that.

"Well we figured as much by the way you were acting as if nothing ever happened between the two of you. Hermione's a wreck because of us. She should have never broken up with you. This would have never happened. We wouldn't be stuck in this situation…." Ron continued to blabber as Draco spoke to the others.

"I was just trying to get over her! And you're right she is a wreck because of all of you. You shunned her and acted as if she was nothing to you all. What a site it was to see the trio in such chaos. You should just go back to spending time blaming yourselves I'm sure she'll come back when she's ready." Draco said walking away from them. He knew where Hermione was. He knew exactly where she was.

"How can you just leave us? We have to do something!" Ron exclaimed. He couldn't believe Draco was just going to leave them and tell them that she was going to come back when she was ready?

"Just leave it to me. I'll bring her back."

He walked across the graveyard. The same graveyard that gave Voldemort the chance to become his true self again. He knew his father would bring her here. This is where he brought all mudblood unlucky enough to have been brought here by the hands of him. He saw her lying on the ground in a pool of her own blood with his father standing over her. From the pain that Hermione was experiencing he could see that Lucius had put the Crucio curse on her.

"Hello Father." Draco said surprising Lucius enough to take his eyes off of Hermione.

"Oh Draco, my boy. How are you? Come to join in the festivities?" Other Death Eaters rose from their stations making Draco feel even more alone.

"No I'm afraid not. I've come to take what you're having so much fun with." Draco raised his wand preparing himself for whatever was to happen.

"Well can't let that happen now can I? Why have you betrayed your father Draco? You should be fighting with me not against me." Lucius also raised his wand ready to whisper an unforgivable curse toward his own son.

Draco spoke before he ever got the chance.

"Avada Kedavra!" He yelled into the cold night air. His father fell to the ground without another sound. Hermione whimpered on the ground bringing his attention back to her. Feeling the pain finally fade away from her body she settled down. The other Death Eaters looked among themselves not knowing what to do.

"I wouldn't bother doing anything or you have a death just as my fathers. Leave now!" Draco's voice rose within the center of the circle. Many Death Eaters retreated in the shadows once more. There was no doubt in his mind that Voldemort would not hear the death of one of his very own Death Eaters by sunrise.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked Hermione pulling her up into his arms. She had lost a lot of blood along with many bruises and scrapes all over her body. He hoped he could get her to Madam Pomfrey before it was too late.

"Draco… you came…" Hermione said it as more of a whisper having lost any strength she had fighting against Lucius.

"I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey." He said before he apparated back to the castle. Once on Hogwarts grounds he carried her to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey practically ran into Draco as she tried to look at Hermione's wounds.

"Put her over there! Over there! Hurry!" She yelled at him motioning to a bed on the left. Draco placed her on the bed letting Madam Pomfrey examine her head to toe. She began giving Hermione many potions to take care of the bruises and cuts found on Hermione's stomach and arms. She also soon began to send Draco out of the Hospital Wing, but Hermione stopped her before she got the chance.

"Let him stay. Please." Hermione said to Madam Pomfrey who gave a sigh in protest and let Draco return to Hermione's side.

"You can stay Mr. Malfoy, but I better not hear one peep from you two." Madam Pomfrey said walking back to her office. Draco reclined into a chair beside her getting ready to go to sleep.

"Draco will you please come sleep beside me?" She asked hitting the place beside her with her hand.

"Sure." He got onto the small bed wrapping an arm around her. She laid her head onto his chest and quickly fell asleep in his arms. He sat awake however hearing the footsteps of the others approach. He knew him being here next to her would come as no surprise to any of them. They all gazed down happily at the two seeing Hermione was indeed with Draco. Harry, Ron and Ginny took seats beside Draco and all fell asleep just as Hermione had. Draco thought of how things will change now, but he would always know that even if he could never be together with Hermione again, they would never forget the memories they had shared.

Memories don't fade away…

A/N: PHEW! Its over! Many thanks to all my reviews! I love you all! Hope you enjoyed the ending to my story. Don't forget to check out my songfic when it comes out in a few days! Bye!