It had been a hard day for Hermoine Granger. Snape had humiliated her in potions (again, the slimy gut!), she had received a troll on her transfiguration assignment, she and Ron had had another fight, and Harry was busy off snogging Ginny somewhere.
She hated both of them right then. No one was there for her; she was alone amongst the couples in Hogwarts. Harry had Ginny, Ron had Lavender. Who did she, Hermoine, have? She could never be with Ron. Ron... Ron was sweet, but a prat. She could never love him. Even Draco Malfoy, ferret boy extraordinaire, probably had a girl to snog or shag occasionally! But her...
Who could she love? She supposed her crush on Seamus had been a bit childish, and she knew that now, especially when she walked into the common room and found him snogging Dean and reaching for the other boy's tie.
Who did that leave? The twins had left Hogwarts. She remembered the way Fred looked at her, but she had not returned his feelings. Was that unwise? She didn't want to hurt him; he was like a brother to her! But he was sweet, and quite good looking. She sighed.
As she shook her head and kept walking, her head turned sideways to watch Ron snog Lavender on a nearby bench. Eyes filled with tears, she ran- straight into a taller, bulkier body.
"Oof! Watch where you're going, mudblood!" Pansy Parkinson snapped at her. She ignored the Slytherin and kept walking.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the castle, a boy was having similar problems. All of his 'friends' were hooking up- hell, even the fat, stupid, repulsive looking trolls had found appropriate mating partners! Why was he still alone? He was the son of a ministry worker, and a rich one at that! He came from a very respectable family, it didn't make sense to him. He ran a pale, thin hand through his light hair and sighed.
"Get back here, mudblood! Look at your betters when they are speaking to you!" Pansy screeched.
"My betters? Who's that? I could beat you any day in spells, academics, or potions! Just because your parents are wizzards-"
"How dare you!"
Suddenly Hermoine was aware of herself being surrounded by Theodore Nott, Blaise Zambibi, Crabbe, Goyle, Greengrass, and Pansy. They were all carrying wands and had malicious glints in their eyes.
"Well, well, well! Look at this!" Crabbe boomed.
Goyle smirked. "CRUCIO!" he bellowed.
The boy looked out the library window at the group of attackers. Bloody hell, crucioing someone? And who was that? He saw a small witch with a mop of brown bushy- Granger.
He was the only one who knew about what was going on out there.
And he would save her.
Hermoine's body was on fire. She endured crucio after crucio, screaming. Surely someone would hear her!
Pansy raised her wand. "AVADA KEDAV-"
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Listening to her screams of pain filed him on. She must have gone through seven cruciatus curses! Then Parkinson stepped forward. "AVADA KEDAV-"
He came out of nowhere, shoulder checking her into the grass. He snapped her wand, then launched himself at Goyle, the one who had cast the first spell.
She was aware of the pain stopping. Her head hurt. There was screaming all around her, shouts of "stupify!" "petrificus totalus!" and "expelliarmus!" filled the air. Who had saved her?
Goyle was stunned, Crabbe immobilized, Greengrass disarmed, Nott stunned, Zambibi stunned, and Parkinson disarmed. He collapsed, panting, onto the ground. Only then was he aware of the splitting pain and blood pouring down his chest. He promptly fainted.
Hermoine staggered to her feet. "Stupify," she weakly muttered at Parkinson. She then looked down at her rescuer. Could- could it be!?
Was he dead? There was a lot of blood. "Shite!" She cursed, trying to stop the blood blossoming from his chest. His eyelashes fluttered.
"Granger?"
"You saved my life!"
He smiled weakly. "Guess I'm not such a bad guy. I'm sorry for everything-"
"No! Shut it; you'll make it out ok! I promise! I won't let you die!"
He smiled again. "Go live your life. No use wasting it over me. I'm just a prat, and I-"
She silenced him with a kiss. His grey eyes widened. After a moment, he began attacking her lips with vigor, lifting a hand to her hair as they favored the taste of each other. She started to pull away, but he slammed his mouth into hers with renewed strength. Moaning, she melted into him, embracing his bloody body. When they finally pulled away, he grinned at her. Then her rescuer, Draco Malfoy, collapsed, unconscious.
