"Expecto Patronum!" Hermione yelled. She felt fear and hopelessness fill her body like icy water. There were simply too many of them. There had to be ten, from what she could tell, maybe more. the Gryffindor tried her best to push forward but Hermione couldn't face that many alone. It was impossible, she thought. She threw another Patronus, scaring a few off. She heard crunching in the snow behind her and prayed that it was someone to help her.

"Hermione!" She heard his voice yell out, it sounded scared or worried she thought. She whipped around, looking to the boy. His steel gray eyes melted with hers for only a second. Though for that second, it filled her with warmth, enough to make her think that getting out would be easy. But the warmth of his eyes were soon replaced by a blood chilling feeling.

It felt like the air from her lungs were sucked out of her. As if she had been sucked into a black hole and couldn't escape. Her vision blurred, but she could see the dark skeletal face directly above hers. She didn't know when she had fallen on her back but she felt the cold snow against her skin. But the snow felt like nothing in comparison to the soul sucking demon above her.

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Was all she heard, in a very muffled quiet type of way, before the world around her faded to black.

Hermione gasped loudly and sat up in her bed. Tears had streaked down her porcelain like cheeks. She felt a hand tightly grip hers.

"Hermione! What's wrong?" Draco practically jumped out of the chair he was sitting in alongside her bed. His wand was in hand with a spell on the tip of his tongue. He looked down at her protectively.

She breathed deeply as she looked up at him. The haunting memories from just a few days before still flowed vividly through her head. Every time she closed her eyes she seemed to relive the excruciating feelings as they took the form of horrid dreams.

"Oh... Granger..." He whispered quietly. "Move over." He told her, nudging her knee with his hand. She did as told, moving to the far side of the little cot. He sat himself down, the bed creaking under the added weight. He faced her as she sat straight up in her bed. He sighed and she could see a look of concern in his eyes.

Even though no more tears fell, he wiped her cheeks with his hand to rid them of the sticky tears. She felt her heart warm at the simple gesture, appreciating it quite a bit, since she hadn't been able to get warm since her run in with the Dementors.

"You know," he spoke barely above a whisper, "I get them too." Draco carefully took her hand in his as it was before he had gotten up. "I have for as long as I can remember."

"That's horrible..." She spoke quietly, pushing her hair behind her ear with her free hand. "I've gotten them ever since the war." Hermione spoke truthfully, thinking back to the countless nightmares she's dealt with night after night.

"Bloody sucks doesn't it," His lips curled into a half smile. She nodded and smiled back at him, a small smile, but even so, it made his head go fuzzy.

"Alright then." A voice called from the otherside of the room. Hermione and Draco hands quickly jerked away from eachother, the cold returning into Hermione's body. The duo turned to look to see Madam Pomfrey walking towards them. "Miss Granger, you're free to go whenever you're ready. Stay warm and do try to stay with friends of some sort. You shouldn't be alone right now." The older witch explained while waving a hand, causing a pen to magically write down information.

"Thank you Madam Pomfrey." Hermione smiled and Draco stood from her bed, allowing her to stand as well. The healer nodded and tended to a student in the back who had curtains surrounding their bed.

Hermione tried to pat down her extra frizzy, very slept in, hair. The boy snickered as he watched her attempt to fix the unfixable. They walked out of the Hospital Wing and stopped. Hermione looked up to the Slytherin with big eyes.

"Well... I'm going to go shower I suppose. I feel disgusting." She chuckled. He could tell she was nervous.

"Right. Yes, me too." He nodded to her with a small smile. "You know, she said you're not supposed to be alone..." He looked at his feet but quickly looked up realizing how suggestive he had sounded. She raised her eyebrows at him. "No no!" He exclaimed. "I meant... do you want to meet up... after lunch perhaps?" Draco asked, knowing it was only in an hour and a half.

"Oh." She laughed as well. "I'd like that. All my other friends are on Holiday-"

"I assumed." He cut her off. "I suppose you'll just have to settle for me then, hm?" He gave her a smirk and felt his heart leap when he noticed a small blush appear on her cheeks.

"Suppose so..." She tried to hide her smile by looking at her feet.

"What do you say... Room of Requirements, one o'clock?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I thought it was destroyed?"

"It was, but they repaired it with the rest of the castle over the summer." He shrugged.

"Okay then... See you at one," She turned on her heal, "Draco." She let his name leave her lips softly before walking away.

Draco closed his eyes for a moment, letting her voice resonate in the air around him. Trying to remember the exact way she said his name. He decided he most definitely wanted to hear it again. He began walking towards the Slytherin Common Rooms, replaying it over and over in his head.

Never had he loved his name so much before. He liked the way it sounded coming off her tongue. Like warm tea on a cold fall day. Like a familiar song you haven't heard in ages. He wanted to hear her say it as a whisper in the dead of night. As a laugh at midday between even more laughs. He thought of some other ways he wanted to hear it too but tried not to dwell on those too long.

Draco shook his head, cursing himself as he headed for his room to search for a fresh pair of clothes.

-*-

Hermione sighed, remembering the way she felt in his arms. "Ugh..." She quietly groaned to herself. What was he doing to her? Did she really like him? Surely not! Maybe she did like him. She felt warmth when their skin touched. She felt safe with him and even safer in his arms. Crazy, she thought, she felt safe with an ex-death eater who just happened to be her childhood enemy.

Warmth, safe, protected, happy. Wasn't that what love was?

Hermione huffed as she walked down the corridor to Gryffindor Tower. She looked out the tall windows as she past by them, but stopped in her tracks as she heard voices. Hermione looked to her left, into one of the classrooms, where she could see the side of McGonagall's head.

"I don't think you understand just how bad this situation is, Head Mistress." Hermione heard a male voice but couldn't place it.

"Oh I think I do. We've already had a small battle and two students attacked just two days ago." The older witch replied sternly.

"Then you know we must do something!" He snapped.

"Of course I do, Mr. Zambini, I fully understand, but I do not understand why you came all the way to the school on the winter Holidays to alert me of this." She sighed.

"Because, my son and wife are dead because of them. Because of Dementors and people who I once associated with... and I don't want anyone else to go through what I have." He explained, he was clearly very upset. "They're going after the people who failed them and their families Head Mistress!"

McGonagall said something Hermione couldn't hear from where she stood, outside of the door, hidden behind the wall out of site.

"Their going after people like me, ex-death eaters, their wives, their children... Anyone who failed them in any way during the war-"

Hermione gasped aloud. But quickly realizing her mistake she quietly ran away from the scene before she was noticed. Running up to her dormitory she felt her stomach tighten. Grabbing a pair of jeans with a soft, oversized, light pink sweater, she headed for the shower. She had to find a way to protect him.

To protect Draco.