Accepted

Chapter 6

Bright streaks of light shot out from my parents' wands & Harry & Ron deflected them, casting their own. They were standing in front of Hermione's struggling body, still fighting against the ropes wound around her neck & body.

I ran & knelt next to her, & pulled at the ones trying to strangle her until they loosened, & i pulled them over her head. Her beautiful brown hair fell, loose, to the ground as she gasped for the air she'd lost, & she smiled at me. I grinned right back, leaning in & giving her a full kiss after unwinding the ropes around her body.

As soon as my father saw ME make the move, he shrieked loudly, & the duel paused. All eyes turned to us... I was holding her close, arm around her head, & she had my face in her hands, not wanting to let go. Once our lips touched, she closed in. Dad was furious. He pointed his wand at Hermione, & Ron had his at me.

"YOU!" my father pulled her away from me. "I KNEW YOU WERE NO GOOD! WE SHOULD'VE KILLED YOU FROM THE START, FILTHY MUDBLOOD!" Ron looked terrified for her life, & turned to look at me, yelling & cursing, his wand pointed right below my chin.

"You dirty weasel, Malfoy, you led us on. She was at YOUR house. And you took her away. From ME! I HELPED YOU!" Mum Ran out of the room, & Harry stood, bewildered, at the sight of dad & Hermione, & Ron & i.

A bright yellow light went off, and Hermione fell to the floor, unconscious. I heard Ron & Harry let out an awful screech, then a cry that sounded like,

"MORTALITAS!" The next thing i knew, i woke up, alone at home with my parents, & 2 days away from the beginning of Spring Term.

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Hermione's POV:

We were back at school. The last thing i remembered was being tortured by the Malfoys to near insanity. I didn't remember anything after losing my breath &... Something else happened. I was sure of it. But what, i couldn't think of. I tried asking Ron, but he had been ignoring me, which made me feel abandoned. So i finally plucked up the nerve to ask Harry what happened, & why Ron was acting so ignorant. He sat me down on the bottom of the steps of Gryffindor Tower & put his arm around me. He began to explain the kiss, how Mr. Malfoy put the short-term memory charm on me,(which often had the side effect of knocking people out) how Ron cast a Somnus charm on Draco(it makes the person fall asleep for as long as two weeks), & every other detail. My heart sank. So i had kissed Draco. In front of Ron. In Malfoy Manor. I broke his trust. And this time, i didn't see any way to fix it.

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I saw Draco the next day, conscious & as happy as he could make himself be. As soon as he saw me, he ran towards me, trying to give me a hug. I didn't know what to do at that point... So i let him. He started sobbing into my shoulder, & i sat down at the tree where Ron used to meet me, leading Draco down too. I felt bad for him, but i didn't know why he was like this... He was Draco Lucius Malfoy, & for all i knew, he was always pretending to be someone else. His kind side came out to those he truly trusted, & he was always strong enough to hold his tears in. I pulled his head off my robes & kissed it before asking, "What's wrong?"

He gave me the worst possible answer i could have ever hoped to hear in my life.

"I made the Unbreakable Vow..."