Alright, so it's been over a year (deep apologies everyone) and I decided to re-vamp this chapter. I just wasn't happy with it, and I really, truly want to find closure in this story. I got some excellent ideas from awesome reviewers Cat Standish, DCMMFAN and rikuedlover (thanks so much guys!) that I was so tempted to use but would feel terrible for stealing their ideas. I know this isn't a real update, but it WILL be here very very soon, I promise, because I know what's going to happen in the end. I cranked this out in a few hours and I will do the same tomorrow with the last chapter. Anyway, I would highly recommend reading this even though you've read it before, as I said, it's very different and I made minor plot changes that make a huge difference in the end. Enter the newly stylized chapter seven…

HALF-BLOOD PRINCE COMES OUT IN A WEEK! (Sorry, couldn't resist! I know you're all dying along with me here!)

Main Characters: Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Ron Weasley

Year at Hogwarts: 6th

Ages: Hermione: 16, Draco: 16

Spoilers: Potentially all 4 books

Genre: Romance, Drama

Rating: PG-13 for adult content

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Harry Potter! (except my story!) J.K. Rowling owns everything!

Here we go; hopefully I can keep you all satisfied.

Chapter Seven: Sex, lies, and… videotape? No, but we have letters…

About nine weeks after the Yule Ball, the relationship between Hermione and Draco was still going strong, or so she had hoped. Hermione awoke that cold Saturday in February to an empty bed. There was a note quickly scrawled on Draco's pillow that simply read, "Went riding." Hmmm… how vague, she thought. Whenever he leaves me notes he usually signs with Love or at least his name, and always tells me when he'll return. Oh well, he must not have had any time.

She quickly threw on a lilac bath robe and a pair of slippers and tumbled downstairs for tea. Everything was rather quiet in the house without Draco there, and many things have happened since Christmas. About a month ago she gave him the only thing she could never take back – her virginity. She knew that they had only been together for two months, and that it was a hasty decision, but he was everything to her.

She had given up talking to just about everyone she had once loved above all others – Ron, Harry, Ginny, all of her friends in Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff house. Hermione decided not to make it her fault, as no one but Ron had chosen to visit her either since the Ball. He started coming around about a month ago and showed up at least a dozen times; knocking at the front door, throwing rocks at her and Draco's bay window, but oddly enough she hadn't received post from him in all that time. He's sure showed up a lot, she thought, but wouldn't it have been more sensible to first send post instead? In the end she figured it didn't matter – she would not have replied to his post, just as she had not answered the door. It was lonely and cold when Draco wasn't around; he was the only one she had right now and she was attached, she knew it, but he felt the same about her – didn't he?

Suddenly she wasn't so sure anymore. Thinking back on it, things seemed different indeed. He never kissed her goodnight anymore, he never made her breakfast in bed, and they hadn't just sat down for a calm talk in at least three weeks. Curious, she thought. Draco had begun acting cold to her around the same time she stopped receiving post from Ron. She wanted to say something but feared that he would get angry or snappish. She thought he loved her, but she knew she loved him, and it irked her to see him so quiet. He had been treating her with somewhat of a courteous detachment, and it was steadily getting to her.

It's so tiring to constantly sit in front of the TV, thought Hermione. The majority of her time that was not spent on reading consisted of either watching the BBC or the DIY network. The same bureaucrats whinging on the BBC, and the same do-it-yourself-fix-it projects on the DIY. She had decided to situate herself in one of the chairs and open up Great Expectations by Charles Dickins when the doorbell rang. She hoped it was Draco, but at the same time, something inside her suspected it wasn't.

The bell rang again, and she got up and opened the door.

Ron.

She promptly slammed the door shut in his face, rather impulsively, and put her back to it. Her heart pounded in her chest, breathing frantically. She had long hoped he would leave her alone.

He knocked this time.

"Go away Ronald, I do not want to see you. I haven't answered the door once since you came around, and I urge you to make a permanent absence."

"Hermione, listen to me. I have already sent Pig over at least ten times with post. I've been so worried about you. What happened to you, Hermione? When did you stop caring about everyone else but yours-"

"I never got any letters Ron!" She shouted. He just wouldn't get the point, would he? Every time she talked to him she got increasingly more irritated. "And I don't have time for – "

"Don't have time? What's so important? He's not home, Hermione. There's no one to occupy you."

Was he spying on them? How could he possibly know of Draco's whereabouts?

"How do you-" she began but he cut her off.

"Look, I can explain. Just open the bloody door alright?"

She eased her shoulders and pulled back the dead bolt. Oh, god, I'm letting him into my house, what does he want to say? She was getting increasingly anxious as the moments ticked by. He said he'd explain, it can't hurt, right? She slowly opened the door.

He was wearing a thick, charcoal gray wool cloak over a green jumper and black trousers. Bits of snowflake had fallen into his hair and his dark blue eyes were clouded. He had always been tall and slim, but he almost looked as if he'd grown. It had probably been the amount of time she'd spent avoiding to see him, she reasoned. He held out a slender hand to her, but made no move to enter.

He sighed. "Invite me in, Hermione," he pleaded.

She looked skeptical, but acquiesced. "Come in, Ron." He smiled faintly at her, although he seemed almost afraid to look her in the eye. That face could always break a heart, she thought. It almost pained her to think of all of the trouble she'd caused him lately. Wait a minute Granger, she thought. Trouble she caused him? He's the one who's been sufficiently stalking her! You're wrong, said another, less welcome voice in her head. Where has your "brilliant mind" gone? You know he's only coming around because he obviously still cares!

"You had better sit down," she said, and motioned to the chair opposite the couch. She curled up and looked up at him, steeping her tea bag in her steaming mug. "Well? Say what you want, I really don't have any interest in looking at you." He didn't care if she wanted to look at him or not, he forced her to by looking her in the eye as she coaxed words out of him.

"Well, I guess I really don't know where to start," he began, rubbing the back of his neck which had become quite heated. It looked really difficult for him to say what he intended. "I suppose I could question you once again, did you get a single one of my last letters?"

"No, I swear to you, Ron. I received none. Not even one."

"Perhaps… perhaps Malfoy hid them from you. I'm guessing either because he didn't want you to keep in contact with me, or he didn't approve of the content of them. I'm sure he's read them, after all, he's probably done everything in his power to keep me from telling you, I expect."

Her curiosity – and anxiety - were piqued now to breaking point. "First of all, why would he hide the letters from you? He never seemed keen on reading them before. Second, what are you keeping from me?"

"In time I will tell you everything, but for the moment, I have a hunch…" he said, and got up from his chair. There was a porcelain jar on the coffee table between them, where Draco usually kept his paperwork from his father. Ron took the lid off the jar and pulled out a locked cedar box. He got his wand out, ready to Alohomora the lock when Hermione protested; telling him magic was not to be used in the house. He shrugged, not listening to her and spelled the box open anyway. Inside was a thick wad of rolled parchment, already apparently read and tied neatly with twine. She drew in a sharp breath, preparing for the worst as he relaxed on the chair and tossed the letters aside on the table.

"I guess I should tell you what I know since I brought you this far. I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't want you wrapped up in this, but not telling you hurt me even more. Do you think I could stand thinking about you so happy with him and denying my own feelings? I knew that you would never listen to me or care to hear what I had to say, even though I always thought you were the closest thing to a soul mate I ever had."

At these words Hermione's heart seemed to sink into her being and her snapped up to look at him. All of a sudden she felt extremely guilty for how she had treated them. In the end, she supposed that although his outburst at the Ball was uncalled for, he had done it because he loved her. Not as a lover, but as a best friend looking out for her best interest.

"Instead you stayed with him," he continued. "When I've been here for you for so much longer. 'Does it matter?' I'd ask myself. 'Does any of it even matter anymore?' I gave up for a while, and didn't come for you for an entire month after the Ball. Until one night, about a month ago, Harry and I got a hold of an old and rather large bottle of Firewhiskey, courtesy of Fred and George by owl. In our drunken and elated states we devised a plan to play a trick on the Slytherins, for old time's sake," he decided to ignore Hermione's indignant hmph! about the Firewhiskey and continued on. "We got the password to the dungeons from a first year; anyway, we were walking down the stairs…"

…Flashback… (enter groovy chime music)

"Grrrreat plan Harry, thissss'll realllllly blow em out of the water!" Ron stated drunkenly as he and Harry walked swayingly down the steps towards the Slytherin dungeons, trying to ignore the water droplets dripping from the moldy stone walls. They had stolen a simple sleeping draft from Snape's private stockroom and planned the attack for about two a.m., which was when they assumed everyone would be asleep. The plan, which admittedly only sounded good because they were smashed, was to slip the potion down Goyle's throat when he was asleep to ensure he'd stay that way, place a Wingardium Leviosa spell on him to make him weightless, and then strategically place him in Crabbe's bed, a predicament which would be quite difficult to explain to their fellow Slytherins in the morning. The walk was pretty far, a decent distance at that, and when they finally reached the stone wall they waited a while, hoping for an oblivious First Year to come along and give them the password. This was quite foolish of them, considering it was two in the morning and they had assumed everyone to be asleep. Luckily, though, a little towheaded boy came along in their wake.

"Heyyy, kid!" Ron said, pretending to scratch his chest to conceal the Gryffindor badge. "I'm Head Boy, and since -" Ron began, but the boy interrupted him, probably out of nerves. He apparently didn't notice Ron's increasingly slurring voice.

"Please, sir!" he squeeked, "I was only just going to the loo! I know I'm not supposed to be out this late, but I really can't hold it much-"

"Aaalright, kid, don't pisssss your pants in antipitation!" he hiccoughed and giggled at his own, rather lame, joke. "I'll mmmaaaake a deallll witth yyou. I don't uuuusually come around to your cooommons and I need the passsssword for… for… offficccial HOGWARTS busssiness! If youuu give it to me, I'll let this slide." Harry looked at him with huge eyes, holding back laughter and thinking that this kid must really have to go if he didn't notice anything strange about Ron's behaviour. Harry was, however, quite trashed as well.

"Ummm…" the little boy looked down at the ground, as if deep in thought rather to give him the password or not. "It's 'tourniquet', but you didn't hear it from me!" and he scurried off.

"Exxxcellllennnt," both Ron and Harry said in unison as they recited the password and the door opened, creaking slightly. Ron observed the rough stone walls and green lamps suspended on chains, vividly remembered being here once before in Second Year. He and Harry had taken Polyjuice Potion to transform themselves into Crabbe and Goyle and unsuccessfully trick Malfoy into giving them information. There was very little light inside, but they could see shadows of two figures in the corner of the room. The Slytherin Common Room was a decent size, so it took them a while to hear it what was happening. "Ssshh… I heeear something," Harry whispered, jabbing his finger at Ron's lips to quiet him. They both found Harry's gesture quite amusing, but surprisingly were able to hold their laughter.

"Draco, honey, do you think she suspects?" a female voice asked raspily, obviously trying to sound overly sexy. They knew they heard that voice many times before, but it was usually in a biting or sarcastic tone.

"There is no way that she could possibly know. I pretend as if nothing between us has changed, even though there really wasn't much there to begin with," Draco replied smoothly. Ron leaped forward in anger but Harry restrained him.

"Shhhh, lisssten," said Harry. "We haaaave to know if he's chheeating on Herrmiiiione."

"Then why don't you just dispose of her pathetic, sorry little Mudblood arse and come with me? You said yourself that I'm much better looking anyhow, besides, I'm rich too. Pureblood of course. I have much more to offer, and I've been promised to you by our parents since birth. Why won't you just sleep with me already? We've already snogged senseless the past few weeks since your return."

"Blaise, sweetie," he said, very bitter sweet and sarcastically, "you're forgetting. I have to live with her, spend every waking moment with her. Don't act like I could just break it off so abruptly, besides," he paused for a moment, "It would be total hell to live the last four months with her screaming at me every day. And that 'promise' you speak of is not magically bound."

Harry and Ron couldn't take it anymore, they were both fuming. They stormed towards the site of the sound and magicked the lights on. Lying, topless on the couch, were Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy.

"You motherfucker!" Ron screamed. He seemed to come to his senses as the situation played out before him.

"I knew it, the WHOLE TIME, I KNEW you were unfaithful, and now you're just going to have to pay the price!" Ron lunged at him, and this time Harry didn't stop him, but Blaise did. Ron could not hit a girl, even if it was a slimy Slytherin.

"Weasley…" Draco said, breathing heavily and replacing his shirt, "first of all, I did NOT sleep with Blaise, and you better not tell ANY of this to Hermione, or I swear to god, I'll have you eliminated with one word, and you better fucking believe that."

"And what in hell are you going to do to stop me?" Ron asked. "Listen, I'm not afraid of you any more Malfoy. I'm not going to listen to your fake promises or you're empty threats. I've grown since then. I WILL be writing to Hermione about this, and you better bloody believe that."

And Harry and Ron stormed out, leaving Draco standing scorned behind them, digging his nails into his fists and watching Blaise disappear up the dormitories.

…End Flashback… (enter groovy chimes again)

Ron relaxed and looked at Hermione. He had nothing to say, he supposed she'd been through enough already anyhow. She didn't say anything, make any noise, or any attempt to move, at all for that matter. Just sat curled up and stared slightly to her right, yet breathing heavily.

"I think you'd better go," she finally said, and motioned with her index finger to the door. He straightened up and walked away, leaving the letters on the table.

He approached the door and waited for her to speak, but she made no sound.

He shut the door and she sat in her couch and cried, just cried. She didn't know how long it had been, or what had happened. She didn't want to have to be forced to think or comprehend any of the words he had recited. It couldn't be true, it just couldn't. And even if he had said those things he didn't mean them – no, Draco loved her too dearly to do this to her. To hurt her in any way was his besetting sin.

She tried to find comfort in the fact that he hadn't slept with Blaise, but she couldn't. She sat and contemplated what he did to her, wishing it would be only that easy for her to get him back.

But it wasn't easy; she could never do that to another human being, especially one that she thought she had such a bond with.

Because she loved him so much that she couldn't bear to hurt him, and it just wouldn't be right to lie to herself and tell herself that he didn't matter, when in reality he was everything that mattered.

Everything.

The thought shook her to the bones, realizing that nothing she'd had with anyone had ever been as strong as what she had with him. Realizing that even her bond with Harry and Ron, a real friendship, an undeniably real friendship couldn't compare to this. She had to find a way to either make him love her and come back, or to get him back with revenge, and neither sounded very sweet at the moment. She would have to choose between staying with him and having a false hope that he would grow to love and understand her and never see Blaise again, or lose a fake sense of security by dumping him, yet knowing he wasn't there to hurt her.

And at the moment the only thing she wanted was an absolution and a way to go.

Until the door opened, and he walked in.

A/N – Wow, I bet that whole chapter was totally unexpected, wasn't it? I'm sorry you guys, I really am, but I also really wanted to go a different way with this story. I always thought this would be the story where it would all be fun and fluff and games, but I just had to try this. If you totally hated this story and want to forget you ever read it, then by all means do so. The next chapter will be the end, well, my end. Someday I may write an alternative chapter seven that wraps everything up and keeps the fluff, or I may not. For now, thank you to all of my fantastic reviewers. You rock my socks off, and I would never have even considered finishing this story without you all. I WILL have this updated IMMEDIATELY, I know what I'm going to do and how to do it. I love you all, and I could never have finished this story if it wasn't for you 3.