"Hermione, we have to go!"

She took one last look around her bedroom at the Burrow to ensure that she wasn't leaving anything behind, knowing she would never return, and then rushed down the stairs and out the door.

Mrs. Weasley was standing there looking extremely harassed, they never had a smooth return to school, but at least with the twins living in Diagon Alley they weren't here to cause a ruckus.

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley! I was just making sure I had everything."

She rushed into the car, squeezing herself in beside Harry and slamming the door.

The tension inside the car was thick as water. Harry and Ginny had been fighting recently and Hermione knew that Harry was considering breaking it off with Ginny before the war, he didn't want her to become a liability. Ginny hadn't been told about it but Hermione thought that she could sense something big was going to happen, causing her to be tense and angry. Harry just worried about everyone's safety all the time and always felt extremely guilty when anything bad happened.

Problems of being the Chosen One.

Hermione had been living at the Burrow for most of their holidays because she had a feeling that the war was going to be happening any time, and she didn't want her parents to get caught in the crossfire all because of her. She modified their memories to ensure they wouldn't remember having a child and they promptly sold their house and moved to Australia.

Hermione moved into the Burrow a week after their holidays began and she and Ron started dating the week after that, unfortunately, their relationship was just not meant to be.

Ron was clingy and possessive. He was also pushy and demanding.

Not something Hermione was okay with, and she was surprised that she had actually thought at one point it would ever work out for them. Hermione couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt like there was someone out there that was actually meant to be with her. She knew it was a crazy notion but she couldn't shake the feeling.

Hermione and Ron's relationship lasted a whopping month and a half before she couldn't handle him anymore. She was glad that their relationship never went any farther than basic snogging, she wouldn't have wanted to give herself to someone who was so selfish and… forgetful.

"Hermione?"

She was brought out of her musings by Harry, who she looked at questioningly - a look that was being returned to her.

"Are you… going to get out? We have a train to catch, you know?"

Hermione whipped her head around and realized they were at Kings Cross. She laughed nervously and opened the door, quickly stepping out onto the sidewalk. She grabbed her trunk and Mrs. Weasley escorted the two Weasley children, Harry, and Hermione into the station, tension still thick in the air.

Once they made it through onto platform 9 ¾ Ginny gave Harry a beseeching look and quickly turned away, walking in the opposite direction.

Tensions were high between everyone these days, it seemed. The war was still on the horizon, Dumbledore was sending Harry letters at least once a week, and Hermione knew they were having private lessons of some sort this year. She didn't know anything about them yet, but knew Harry would keep her informed.

Ron, Harry and Hermione seemed to be drifting apart, forgetting how to be happy together with the stress that was upon their shoulders. Harry, understandably, didn't want to pick sides between his two friends, and Hermione certainly wasn't expecting him too. They just had to relearn how to be together as only friends, even though it was exceptionally clear that Ron still wanted Hermione as a girlfriend.

Hermione wasn't having it.

She just wanted her friendships back before the war took place.

The three of them moved onto the train and found an empty compartment, Hermione took a seat as far from Ron as was possible, something that didn't go unnoticed.

"Are you that repulsed by me?"

Hermione almost laughed.

"No, I'm not repulsed by you at all."

"If the compartment door was open you would be sitting in the corridor."

Hermione felt her cheeks heat up slightly. She wasn't trying to be childish, she just felt incredibly awkward around Ron now. Something she wanted to fix, she just wasn't ready to at the moment. Maybe once they were at school and spent a little more time apart she would remember how to be around him.

"Enough, Ron. Things are different now, it'll take some getting used to for everyone."

"You're honestly taking her side, Harry?"

"Her side? I didn't realize that there were sides to take."

"She dumped me!"

"Because it wasn't going to work out between you guys, at least she realized it quickly instead of dragging it out and making it worse in the end," Harry stated wisely as the train chugged out of the station.

"It could have worked! She didn't even give us any time to figure it out!"

"The chemistry just wasn't there, Ron."

"Chemistry? That is such a bullshit reason."

Hermione huffed, wanting to avoid an argument and not wanting to tell Ron that she felt she was destined to be with someone else. That would just cause even more issues between them since Ron wasn't the most level headed person. He was not understanding.

"See! You can't even defend it! You dumped me for no reason."

"I broke up with you because I couldn't stand the thought of kissing you one more time, slobbering all over me, I couldn't bear to think about our relationship going farther! We are not meant to be together in that way!"

Ron looked like he just got hit with something large in the face while Hermione's eyes flashed dangerously, fire in her irises.

"You… you bitch!"

"Ron!" Harry said sharply as Hermione jumped out of her seat, her temper flaring.

The compartment door slid open slowly, revealing the delighted face of Draco Malfoy.

"Finally you and I agree on something, Weaselby."

"Sod off, Malfoy."

"I was just coming by to get Granger, you're wanted in the Head's compartment." Malfoy met her eyes and she felt herself softening, her temper abating instantly and a strange sense of calm overcoming her, which was insane.

Pure insanity!

"Why? And why are you the one to come get her?"

"Well, Weaselby, they figured it would be best for the Head Boy to hunt down the Head Girl to come to the compartment and lend a hand in making the Prefects schedules for rounds, which will be much longer and arduous than usual, this year."

"You're Head Boy?"

"You're head Girl?"

Harry and Ron asked the questions simultaneously, Harry looking at Malfoy, Ron at Hermione.

Malfoy grinned maliciously and backed out of the carriage.

Hermione followed without a backward glance. She wasn't surprised that Malfoy was the Head Boy, it was outlined in her letter this year who had the position, as well as all of the details of her living arrangements. She didn't have it in her heart to tell Harry that she wouldn't be living in Gryffindor tower this year. She figured he would be really bummed to not have her around, and lately she didn't care about keeping Ron informed.

/

Hermione was shuffling from one foot to the other outside of the bathroom door in the Head common room. She had to pee.

Bad.

"Come on, Malfoy! You've been in there for ages!"

Draco was sitting on the edge of the tub, as he had been for at least five minutes, immensely enjoying the fact that Granger was about to piss herself right outside the bathroom door.

"Almost done!" he called gleefully.

He stood back up and looked in the mirror one last time. He looked tired but there wasn't much he could do about it. He made sure his sleeves were pulled down to his wrists before he finally vacated the bathroom.

Granger didn't say a word, just rushed by him into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.

He noticed that she was spending more time in their shared common room than was really necessary. Couldn't she go to the Gryffindor common room and hang out with Scarhead and Weasel? They were inseparable in previous years, so why was she always hanging around by herself so far this year?

Annoying.

Not that he was about to ask her any questions about herself. Irritating bint.

They had already been at school for two weeks and Draco hadn't done one thing that was outrageously mean to Granger. He bickered with her, of course, and made her feel like shit most of the time, but he hadn't been straight up mean to the girl. For whatever reason, he felt himself become calmer when she was around, maybe he was becoming soft. He had a lot on his mind lately, a lot of sinister things were in the making and he found himself forced into the middle of it all. He was spending a lot more time in their shared room as well, only because whenever they were sitting in there, quietly reading, he felt better. He felt that he was able to turn off the horrible thoughts going through his mind constantly whenever he wasn't around her. He still got some sort of perverse pleasure out of tormenting her and making her feel bad about herself, but it seemed almost different now; regardless of all of that he was angry with everything, everyone, and he knew at some point he would take it out on the Head Girl.

It wasn't going to be pretty.

/

Granger came slamming into the common room late Saturday night, so angry she didn't even see Draco sitting in an armchair near the guttering fire. She had, once again, been playing referee between her friends, their relationships were deteriorating quicker than she had anticipated; at this rate Ginny and Harry would be broken up within the next few weeks. She wanted everything to go back to normal, to the way it was even as much as three months ago! Was that so much to ask for? They needed to be united and on the same page by the end of this school year if they had any hopes of winning this stupid war. Did they not understand that?! At least Harry's new lessons with Dumbledore were all about eradicating horcruxes, something they wouldn't have to worry about on top of everything else once the school year was over.

She threw her book bag at the wall angrily, cursing under her breath, which caused Draco to raise his eyebrows slightly.

He felt the familiar sense of calm that he usually felt when she was around, but he had had an especially stressful evening, and he pushed the contented feeling aside and let anger take over instead. He had received a letter from his father concerning his actions for the next couple of months and he was livid. He wasn't a puppet! He forced all of this anger to be directed toward Granger and jumped from his chair, his wand clutched tightly in his hand.

Granger jumped, seeing Draco there, and then visibly sighed in relief, dropping her hand that had been clutching her breast just seconds before - an action that she would regret over the next few weeks.

He almost laughed, this was the first time she had fully let her guard down around him and he was going to use it to his advantage.

"Aculateum!" he yelled, sending a stinging hex her way.

She hissed in pain seconds before diving behind the couch, he knew he hit her, he just wasn't sure where.

"Steleus!" she screamed, popping up from behind the couch before he could move around it to get her again. Her hex missed him by inches, but she was standing now, staring him in the eye.

"Tarantellegra!"

"Ducklifors!"

They continued shouting hexes and jinxes at each other, but they were both dodging them for the most part as they both started playing dirtier. Their common room was quickly getting destroyed, but neither of them seemed to care. Each of them were taking out their own frustrations and anger on the other. Draco moved so he was also behind the couch, nothing was between the two now.

They both shot the stinging hex at each other at the same time and caught each other this time. Each let out a breath and stumbled backward quickly, their magic getting stronger the longer they fought.

Draco's eyes were like chips of ice and Hermione's were dancing with fire.

Hermione didn't know why this started, but she quickly decided that she wasn't backing down first.

This thought distracted her, momentarily.

"Affligo!"

Hermione suddenly felt as though she had been punched hard in the face, her eyes watered and she stumbled back again.

Damn it, Malfoy!

"Arcus!" Hermione screamed in a fit of rage and arrows shot from her wand but again, they missed Malfoy, landing all around him.

He grinned at her now, an evil, frightening grin.

He knew they weren't messing around now that she had cast such a brutal curse, now it was getting dangerous for the both of them, and he couldn't have felt better about it. Finally he was with someone who could match him in wits, and apparently, anger.

"Castreo!" she yelled, and Draco doubled over, feeling as though he had been kicked in the genitals.

"Bitch!"

"Fuck you!"

He had never heard her swear like that before.

"Mortem Milia Secat!" Draco yelled recklessly, blades shooting from his wand.

Hermione's eyes widened momentarily when she heard him start the curse before she quickly said "Secans Copiosius!" which also caused blades to shoot toward Draco.

Both of their spells hit the target dead on and the knives disappeared as soon as Draco dropped to his side and Hermione fell forward, blood seeping everywhere.

They lay about a foot apart, both groaning in pain as their blood pooled around them. The puddles of their blood were about an inch apart and Hermione looked up into Draco's eyes, knowing that he was going to be the last person she would lay eyes on.

"Why did you attack me?" she asked him, tears running down her face.

"I just wanted to get some of the pressure off of my chest," he said weakly, "It wasn't supposed to go this far. I thought you'd dodge it, like you managed to do with most of the others."

She inched closer to him and once she was close enough to Draco she lifted her wand.

She could see the apprehension in his eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to try to get us some help."

She closed her eyes for a moment and then something silvery shot from her wand. He tried to focus on it, and it looked like an otter shining brightly in front of his eyes.

It split into two, "Professors Dumbledore and Snape," was all she said before they went streaking out of the room.

Her tears were falling more rapidly now, they had both lost a lot of blood and it was mixing together on the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" she sobbed, leaning forward again to look into Draco's eyes, "I never meant to hurt you this bad!"

"I'm sorry I started it. I was just trying to get rid of some pent up anger and you were always the best target for me."

One of her tears landed on his face and he reached for her hand.

Call it a moment of weakness while dying, he didn't want to face whatever was coming on his own and apparently she didn't either since she dropped her head onto his bloody chest and tried her hardest to remember any healing spells she may have known.

She didn't know any, which seemed like a serious lack in judgement on the schools part considering there was a war upon them.

"I can't heal you, I don't know any healing spells."

Hermione still managed to sound indignant about this, how could she have never looked any up?

"I don't either."

"I want you to know, before we die, that I don't hate you, Draco. I think you're brilliant, and you're handsome, I think if you had gotten the opportunity you would have made someone very happy one day."

Draco wrapped his other hand in her hair at her scalp, his own tears leaving his body as he was feeling cold and exhausted, and everyone knew what that meant.

"I want you to know that I don't think you're disgusting. I think you are brilliant, beautiful, and I've always been jealous of you, at least a little bit. You're a gifted witch."

"You're gifted and brilliant too. I'm sorry it got this far, I was angry when I got back and I took it out on you."

"If I wasn't so miserable and confused with my life I wouldn't have attacked you in the first place."

"I don't hate you." She seemed keen on getting this point across.

"I don't hate you, either, I don't want to be any part of the movement that is supposed to eradicate you."

"Well you won't be, anymore," Hermione said, valiantly trying to stab at some humour in their bleak situation.

They lapsed into silence for a few moments, each trying to think clearly.

"Let's just sleep," Draco mumbled finally, pulling Hermione closer to his body with the little strength he had left.

Hermione agreed, closing her tired eyes, her head pressed into his chest with his hand, her body pulled flush against his.

"I'm sorry."

"Me too."

Hermione heard distant sounds, and then closed her eyes for the last time.

/

"What's going on Albus?"

Professor Dumbledore met Professor Snape outside the head corridor, each following the patronus of an otter.

"I'm not sure, I was summoned here just as you were."

Dumbledore, having the authority to enter any room in the castle, opened the door and gasped. The room was totally destroyed and there laying on the floor in each other's arms, blood surrounding them, were the Head Boy and Head Girl.

Snape gasped and ran forward, pulling his wand out. He started a counter curse, a low melodious song-like spell. He was whispering it beneath his breath, not taking his eyes off of the pair.

"Are you sure that's wise?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

Snape didn't answer but continued whispering his song like spell. The blood on the floor started flowing back towards the students, entering their bodies as their deep gashes healed slowly. When the last cut on each of their bodies was healed, a bright white light shone, causing both teachers to shield their eyes.

"You realize what you just did?"

"Yes," professor Snape answered, under his breath, "it was the only way to save them."

"We must get them to the hospital wing."

"Luckily it's after curfew."

Both teachers solemnly said a spell in a unison and both students floated up into the air. They were steered weightlessly to the hospital room and each placed in a bed, right beside each other. Professor Dumbledore moved Hermione's bed closer to Draco's and then pulled a curtain around the beds, shielding them from view.

Madam Pomfrey came rushing out, a questioning look on her face.

"Two students who seemed to have attacked each other, we fixed them up as best as we could in their common room, but they will still need tending to. They might be sleeping for a while…"

"Why will they be asleep for a while, Professor?"

"Blood bonded."

Madam Pomfrey's eyes widened.